When All Else Fails
by xcountrygurlx
Summary: Aria hasn't been herself lately and her friends and Ezra are beginning to notice. She is distant and is always getting sick. Can Ezra save the love of his life before it's too late?
1. Chapter 1

When All Else Fails

Aria walked the hallways of her high school, for the millionth time over the past four years. She couldn't wait to get out of that place and finally be able to be with Ezra in public and not just his apartment. Well it was sort of like their apartment now, she stayed their practically every night, it was easy since her parents were divorced, she would just tell her dad that she was staying at her moms, and tell her mom the same thing. She walked past Ezra's classroom and she glanced in, knowing it was his free period. She caught his glance and he winked at her as he glanced up from grading papers at his desk.

"Earth to Aria, hello? Anybody home?" Spencer waved her hand in front of Aria's face.

"Wait, what? Sorry zoned out a little." Aria said with a slight laugh.

"I was just saying that you look a little sick, why don't you go home early?"

"Oh, no, I'm fine. Just tired." Aria lied through her teeth for what seemed like the hundredth time that week. Everyone kept asking her if she felt okay or if she was sick and frankly, Aria was getting annoyed. She was fine as far as everyone else was concerned. They just needed to let her live her own life.

"Well how about we come over after school and we can read trashy magazines and eat junk food? Hanna and Emily already said they're free."

"You know what, on second thought, you're right, I'm not feeling too well. I'll probably just go home and sleep." The girls were on their way to lunch, Aria's least favorite time of the school day.

"Aria, aren't you going to get something to eat?" Emily pointed out about ten minutes into lunch.

"I don't really feel that great, so I think I'm going to go home actually." Aria had to wait until her next class for her teacher to give her a pass for the nurse, she was not allowed to go right from lunch. The lunch period ended and Aria proceeded to her next class, English. She walked in and put her head down on her desk, waiting for her teacher to start class.

"Alright, today we will touch on Hemingway's background and how that influenced his writing. Um, Aria, do you need to go to the nurse?" Mr. Fitz asked, seeing as she couldn't even keep her head up.

"Yeah, thanks." Aria mumbled before getting up from her desk and grabbing her pass from her boyfriend. She walked to the nurse slowly, exerting the least amount of energy as possible. The nurse just took one look at her and sent her home. She went to Ezra's apartment because going to one of her houses was an ordeal she didn't want to deal with. She just wanted to sleep. She climbed in his bed and snuggled under the covers and fell fast asleep.

Ezra walked into his apartment at 4 pm, quietly closing the door. He had a feeling that Aria had come here. He tiptoed back to his bedroom seeing the girl he loved snuggled under his covers. He slightly smiled and went into the living room to grade some papers. Around 5:30 he started cooking dinner, spaghetti. It was ready at six and he decided to get Aria up.

"Hi sweet girl, I made dinner for us." Ezra whispered, tucking a piece of Aria's hair behind her ear.

"Do I have to?" Aria moaned.

"Well you should, but if you don't feel that well I guess you don't have to." Ezra shrugged.

"No, I'll come out." Aria followed Ezra out of his room and into the kitchen.

"Looks good babe." Aria said with a smile as he put the pasta on her plate.

"Thanks," Ezra kissed her head, sitting down, "So what was up today? Did you not feel well?"

"Yeah, just a little under the weather I guess." Aria muttered as she finished her dinner. The couple laid on the couch watching TV for the rest of the night. Around 8, Aria excused herself to use the bathroom.

Aria walked back to Ezra's bedroom to the connecting bathroom. She locked the door and turned the water on from the sink. She knelt by the toilet in an all too familiar way. She knew she had to be quick if she didn't want to Ezra to get suspicious. She stuck her right index finger down her throat, sparking her gag reflex. Soon the contents of her stomach were in the toilet. She heard a knock at the door and froze.

"Aria, babe, what's going on? Did you get sick? Can you unlock the door?" Ezra pleaded. Aria had to think on her feet. She knew that if Ezra found out that she hasn't been eating, and when she had to eat, it didn't stay in her stomach for long, he would be so worried and it really wasn't that big of a deal. She slowly flushed the toilet and turned the water off. Unlocking the door, she walked through the doorframe.

"Yeah, I guess dinner just didn't agree with me so much. Maybe I have a virus or something. I'm just going to lay down I think." Aria shrugged it off and went back to her spot on Ezra's queen bed.

"Why was the water running?" Ezra sat next to her on the bed.

"Oh, I was just putting some cold water on my face and then I got sick and didn't have a chance to turn it off." Aria thought well on her feet.

"Oh, well can I get you anything? Maybe a gingerale?"

"No, but you could scratch my back," Aria giggled as Ezra grinned. He did so willingly and eventually, Aria was asleep in his arms. 6 am rolled around pretty fast for the pair.

"Baby, I have to get up for work, do you think you're going to school today? Or are you still feeling sick?" Ezra nudged Aria.

"I think I might stay here today, is that okay?" Aria tiredly responded. Ezra nodded, kissed her head, and jumped in the shower to prepare for work.

Aria slept most of the day but around 3:45, Aria got up and decided to get a shower. She felt gross ever since she got sick last night. She felt lightheaded, not having anything to eat today. She turned the water to the coldest option and climbed in.

She let the water pour down over her naked body. All of a sudden she felt dizzy, so she grabbed the side of the shower to hold her up. Her hand slipped and she didn't feel herself hit the ground, as she had blacked out before.


	2. Chapter 2

When All Else Fails

_Recap: She turned the water to the coldest option and climbed in. _

_She let the water pour down over her naked body. All of a sudden she felt dizzy, so she grabbed the side of the shower to hold her up. Her hand slipped and she didn't feel herself hit the ground, as she had blacked out before. _

Ezra's P.O.V.

I sighed as I left school, the day had been too long, and I hadn't even gotten to see Aria, which was usually the best part of my day. I got in my car and drove the ten minute drive to my small apartment. I unlocked the front door and, heard nothing at first. Aria was probably still sleeping. I walked back into my room to see the bed empty, but I could hear the shower running. I figured I would give her her own space while she cleaned up from what was probably an awful day. I decided to turn the TV on, but in the middle of The Office, my cell phone rang.

"Hello?" I asked, knowing it was my mother.

"Ezra, honey, it's mother."

"Yeah mom, I know, I read the caller I.D. What's up?" I responded rolling my eyes. My mom can be so technologically challenged sometimes.

"Will you be joining us for dinner tonight? Aria is certainly welcome!" My mother said, even though I knew she was hoping that Aria wouldn't show up.

"Shit, yeah sorry, I forgot all about it, but Aria's sick so she probably won't be coming."

"Oh, what a shame!" My mother breathed a sigh of relief, all the while acting like it was disappointing news.

"I'll be there at like six? Is Wes going to be there?"

"I believe so, or at least he said he will be. I've got to run now darling, Rosa needs help with preparing the meal."

"Alright, I'll see you later Mom." I hung up the phone, a little relieved that I didn't have to make dinner tonight. I checked my watch, it was now 4:15 and Aria was still in the shower. I better check on her, make sure she didn't fall asleep or something. I chuckled at the idea of that, knowing it would never happen, but giving myself an excuse to check on her.

"Aria? Are you okay in there?" I knocked on the door. When I got no response, I tried the handle, which luckily, was unlocked. I slowly opened the door and was smothered by the steam that rushed towards me.

"Aria?" I called into the shower, I got no answer again, so I pulled back to curtain to find Aria blacked out on the floor of the shower. I quickly shut off the water, which was burning hot at this point. I grabbed a random towel from the rack and covered Aria in it and picked her up out of the water. I placed her body on my bed.

"Aria, baby! Wake up, come on, Aria!" I shock her body gently, trying not to be too rough. After many attempts of me trying to wake her up, I called 911, knowing there was no other option.

"Hello, 911, what is our emergency?"

"Yes, hello, I came home and found my gir-my cousin, my girl cousin, blacked out in the shower. I don't know how long she has been unconscious for, but she won't wake up! I need an ambulance!" I knew that if I told them she was my girlfriend and underage, I would get in trouble.

"Okay sir, we're sending an ambulance right now, what is your address?"

"738A Dover Street, Rosewood, Pa."

"Is she breathing?"

"Um, yes, yes she is." I checked to see that she was breathing and was relieved when she was. I was too shocked to do anything else, so I just held Aria's body in my arms. I decided that while the ambulance was on their way, that I should at least try to cover her up a little. I ran to my dresser, where she kept at least one pair of pajamas. I found her yoga pants and a spare t-shirt. I quickly threw them on her, helping her arms and legs into the sleeves. Soon there was a knock on my door. I ran to answer it.

"Hello, she's in the back bedroom!" I yelled, letting the paramedics into my apartment. They ran back there, and I followed.

"What's her name sir

"Aria Montgomery, she's 17 years old, her birthday is 3/13/96. She is allergic to penicillin and I don't believe she has any medical history that should be worried about." I rambled off facts, without them having to ask me. I knew Aria like the back of my hand, and I wanted this to go as fast as possible, the sooner he gave them all of the information, the sooner she would get the medical attention she needed. They wrapped her in a blanket and strapped her to a backboard. The placed her in a neckbrace and they carried her out to the ambulance. I hopped in the back with one other paramedic. Soon we were speeding off to the hospital. The paramedic was trying to wake Aria up, he was shining a tiny flashlight in her eyes. All I could do was hold her hand.

Soon enough, I was sitting in the waiting room by myself. I knew I should probably call Aria's parents. They knew that we were in a relationship, but they weren't too happy about it. I knew they would be upset if I told them that she had been showering in my apartment, let alone sleeping there. While I was debating whether to call them or not, a doctor walked up to me.

"Ezra Fitzgerald?" I nodded my head in response while standing up. "Ms. Montgomery has sustained a slight concussion from hitting her head on the shower floor, we assume. She also seemed a tad malnourished also, does that have anything to do with her fall in the shower do you know?"

"Well she has the flu, she threw up twice yesterday that I knew of, and I don't think she could keep much food down today." That was the only thing I can think of as to why she would be malnourished.

"That would be a likely cause, I'm sure you're right. Well she is awake right now, and she is free to be discharged whenever she is ready, but you must wake her every two hours to make sure she is responsive and not experiencing a brain bleed." I thanked the doctor and went to the room he pointed to.

"Aria?" I walked in and she was laying on a bed with her eyes closed. At the sound of my voice, her eyes popped open.

"Hey." She whispered.

"Hi, you scared me so much! What happened?" I ran to her side and hugged her, glad that she was okay.

"I just didn't feel well, but I wanted to shower before you got home, and then I felt really dizzy and everything and that's the last thing I remember."

"Does your head hurt?" I pulled a chair over to her bed and held her hand.

"Not really, they gave me some pain medication, I'll be fine. I'm sorry I scared you." Her voice was raspy, probably because she just woke up.

"Baby, no, it's fine, it's not your fault. I'm just glad you're okay! Now let's get you out of here." I helped her change back into the clothes she had been brought in and after the nurse discharged us, we realized that we had no way to get home. We were both thinking of how we were going to get home, but my mother called again before we came upon an answer.

"Mom, hey sorry about dinner, there was an emergency, we can reschedule, I'll call you later, okay?"

"Ezra, we're all wait-"

"Mom, I can't talk, I'll call you back." I hung up the phone knowing to not get into it with her now at the hospital.

"I can call Hanna? I mean, she already knows about us, and my parents won't find out." I knew this was u to be embarrassing, but it was our only option. Hanna was on her way to get us and was there within five minutes. I helped Aria into her car, and then climbed in on the other side.

"Aria, what happened? Are you okay?" Hanna asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I just slipped in the shower and hit my head."

"Oh, okay." The drive was mostly silent as Hanna focused on her driving and Aria closed her eyes. I thanked Hanna as she pulled up to my apartment. I helped Aria out of the car and into my apartment.

"Let's get you into bed."

"But I never even got my shower!" Aria exclaimed.

"How's this sound, I'll start a bath and when it's nice and warm, I'll come get you and you can sit in the bath for a little.

"Okay." She said, happy that I was even letting her back into that bathroom. She laid down on the bed and I went into the bathroom to start the bath. The bathroom was a mess, towels everywhere, and water soaking the floor. I cleaned everything up, and turned the hot water on, adding some bubble bath. I got some fresh towels out of the cabinet while the water was running. I went and got Aria and she followed me into the bathroom. I helped her undress and get into the tub. She laid down and closed her eyes. I tiptoed out and grabbed my book, A Farewell To Arms. I dimmed the bathroom lights, knowing that the harsh light might make her head hurt. I lit a few candles, both so I could see to read, and to help relax Aria.

"What are you doing?" Aria giggled from her spot in the tub.

"I'm reading." I laughed with her.

"Yeah, but why are you reading in here in the dark?"

"Because you're in here in the dark, and I want to make sure you're safe." I told her sincerely. She just smiled.


	3. Chapter 3

When All Else Fails

Aria had missed the next day of school, which was a Wednesday. She returned to class on Thursday though, and was told by her doctor that she had to take it slow. If she got a headache, she was to go home, and if the words she was reading weren't making sense, she had to see the doctor as soon as possible. She shrugged it off because her head wasn't hurting too bad anyway and she felt well-rested due to her day off yesterday. She showed up at her locker around 7:40, 20 minutes before first period started, which was chemistry. She met with Emily at her locker, who had just come from morning swim practice.

"Hey, how're you feeling? I'm surprised you're back so soon!" Emily hugged her, excited that her friend was back.

"A lot better, thanks! I was kind of looking forward to coming to school, I was bored out of my mind at home." Aria had spent yesterday at her dad's house, she didn't want to be invading all of Ezra's space and she slept better in her own bed. Her dad was easy to convince that she was sick, so that wasn't difficult.

"I bet, yeah!" Emily looked distracted, but trying to keep up with the conversation.

"So how's Paige?"

"Oh, she's okay, we're okay. Nothing new, you know. It's just been with all of this A drama, she's scared." The girls hadn't heard from A in awhile, and knew it was just a matter of time, they knew it couldn't be Mona, since she was getting A messages too. So who could it be?

"Oh trust me, I know the feeling." The girls continued to talk as they walked to chemistry together. The morning went well for Aria, with no headaches. Lunch came around and the girls stood in the cafeteria line together. Aria didn't know what to get, she already felt bad about herself because she had eaten an apple for breakfast, but now she was expected to eat lunch too? She would have to go the other route, even though that was the worst for her. Throwing up burned her throat, it made her eyes water, and worst of all, it usually didn't make her feel any better about herself. Sometimes, it even made her feel worse. She grabbed only an apple, carrots, a yogurt, and a diet coke. The diet coke made it easier to throw up afterwards, and it had no calories. She joined the three other girls in their booth in the cafeteria.

"Aria, are you on a diet? Because that lunch does not look very good if you weren't on a diet." Spencer pointed out, taking her homemade mac n' cheese from her lunchbag.

"Oh, no, it's just my mom wants us all to eat healthier at my house, so we're doing it as a family." Aria lied again.

"Sounds fun." Hanna laughed sarcastically.

"So do you guys want to go to the mall tomor-" Emily was cut off when all of their phones vibrated. They all made eye contact because they knew that could only mean one thing. They all read the message silently in their heads:

_Looks like one of you four decided to betray the rest of your group just like I did. _

_I hope it works out better for you then it did for me, or else you'll end up six feet under, just like me. _

_Good luck bitches _

_-A_

"What does that even mean?" Spencer asked as she put her phone down.

"She thinks that one of us is telling the rest of us lies. Who do you think she means?" Emily countered back.

"Has anyone told any lies?" The girls looked at each other with innocent faces.

"Aria, do you have any idea what this means? You've been a little quiet." Hanna pointed out.

"What? Why would I know what this means? I'm not lying about anything! Geez, get off my back!" Aria snapped back.

"Woah, slow your roll there crazy, she was just asking." Spencer tried to calm Aria down.

"Don't tell me to calm down, she was accusing me of being the liar for no reason! I didn't do anything! I'm out of here!" Aria stood up and walked away, leaving her lunch behind, untouched. The girls tried to get her to come back, but Aria stalked away, going to Ezra's classroom.

"Hey, what's up?" Ezra asked as Aria closed the door behind her to his classroom.

"The girls are just being stupid, whatever, I'm over it. What're you up to?"

"Just grading papers." Ezra shrugged and looked back at his papers.

"Do you mind if I read in here until class starts?" Aria asked, knowing the answer.

"Of course, that's fine." Aria pulled out _A Farewell To Arms_, the book they were reading in class. Aria was doing too much too soon for her head, and eventually her head began to spin. She put her head down on her desk.

"You okay? How's your head?" Ezra asked, looking up from his papers.

"Yeah, it's fine, just trying to read is hard sometimes." Aria mumbled, not looking up. Ezra looked around the room.

"Babe, if you don't feel well, go home. I can bring home your work for you."

"No, I already have so much makeup work to do, I'll be fine." Aria said as the rest of the class trickled in.

"Alright class, today we're going to reread some important quotes from the book, so I'll pick a person to read, but then that person will pick the next person and so on. So we'll start on page 87. John, you can start." Ezra announced to the class. John began to read and picked a kid named Tom. Eventually, someone picked Aria to read.

"Um well, as some of you know, Aria suffered a concussion and is having a little trouble reading right now, so why don't we pick someone else?" Aria was a little embarrassed because everyone was staring at her now.

"No, it's okay Mr. Fitz, I can read." Aria started her section and read the words, which weren't really making sense. Then, all of a sudden she started making random noises as she was trying to sound out the words.

"Aria, stop, I think you need to go to the nurse." Ezra said and wrote a pass to the nurse. Aria didn't feel like going home, so she went to the empty women's bathroom. She could still feel the few carrots that she forced down at lunch in her stomach. She made sure no one was in the bathroom and knelt at the bottom of the toilet and did a familiar action until there was nothing left to throw up. She flushed the toilet and wiped her mouth when she was done and proceeded to her next class.

Aria made it through the day and decided to surprise Ezra when he got home, since he wouldn't be getting home until five since he had a faculty meeting after school. She made a quick stop at home, and then the grocery store, and finally, to Ezra's apartment. She changed her outfit from her school clothes to a pair of skinny jeans and a tight black V-neck that showed off her cleavage. She started making dinner, Ezra's favorite, chicken parmesan. While the noodles were boiling, Aria fixed her makeup and her hair. It was almost five now, and Aria was excited. Her and Ezra needed a night to themselves, as they haven't had one in awhile. The sauce had just finished when she heard a key being put through the lock from the outside. Ezra walked through the door, surprised to see his girlfriend for the first time in a few days not passed out in his bed. She was even making dinner.

"Hi babe, how ya feeling?" Ezra asked as he wrapped his arms around his waist.

"Good actually, a lot better. I made chicken parmesan, your favorite." Aria turned around to kiss her boyfriend.

"Okay, let me go change and I'll be right out." As Ezra was changing, Aria dimmed the kitchen lights and lit a few candles, just as he had a few nights ago in the bathroom. When Ezra emerged, he was taken back by the sight. Aria was sitting at the table with candles lit and dinner served for two. The best part was, she was no longer dressed in her jeans and v-neck, but she was in a black robe with not much else on underneath.

"Babe, I don't know if I can wait for dinner to be over!" Ezra exclaimed not being able to take his eyes off her.

"Well who even said that you're getting anything?" Aria laughed, teasing him. He sat down for dinner and as the two finished up, Aria took their plates to the sink and started the wash them.

"That was so good, but I can't wait for you to do the dishes. Leave them, I'll do them later." The two went back to the bedroom.

"Aria, you have the best body." Ezra moaned while kissing her neck.

"Why would you say that? What's changed from before?" Aria asked worriedly, pulling away.

"I was just saying that before you were so bony and fragile, and now you are just so sexy and curvy." Ezra said not thinking anything of it.

"Wait, are you saying it looks like I gained weight?" Aria pulled even farther away from him.

"No, what I meant was that you look so good tonight." But it was too late, Aria had already ran to the bathroom with tears running down her face. Ezra ran to the bathroom door.

"Aria, what did I say? I'm sorry, I meant it as a compliment! I don't know why you're acting this way!" Ezra was a little frustrated with the way she has been acting recently. She wasn't his Aria anymore.

"You called me fat!" Aria swung the door open with her robe back on. She stalked out of the bathroom and began putting her jeans back on.

"No I didn't! I called you beautiful and you got all offended. What's been going on lately? You're acting so different, you're crying all the time, and getting angry. I don't get it!" Ezra yelled back.

"Maybe it's because I don't feel like I'm good enough for you anymore!" And with that, Aria left his apartment.


	4. Chapter 4

When All Else Fails

_Recap: "No I didn't! I called you beautiful and you got all offended. What's been going on lately? You're acting so different, you're crying all the time, and getting angry. I don't get it!" Ezra yelled back._

"_Maybe it's because I don't feel like I'm good enough for you anymore!" And with that, Aria left his apartment. _

Ezra paced around his apartment, too frustrated in the moment to ran after Aria. He angrily put his clothes back on and grabbed his phone. Nothing from Aria. He tried to call her, but she didn't pick up. He was so confused, why was Aria being this way? She was not the girl he fell in love with. He called her again and didn't get anything. It was now ten o'clock and Ezra knew Aria could not go home, because her curfew was 9:30 on school nights. So well else could she be going? Maybe one of the girl's houses. He started cleaning off the dishes that they had made from dinner, but he couldn't get Aria off his mind. It was now 11:15 and Ezra was beginning to get worried. He typed out a text to Aria:

_Where are you? Getting worried. I'm so sorry. XOXO_

After ten minutes Aria hadn't read the message, or else his phone would have notified him. He sent out a quick message to her friends:

_Hey, it's Mr. Fitz, have any of you seen Aria? We got in a fight and she left, now she's MIA_

Emily messaged him back first, saying that she hadn't heard from her since lunch today. Then, Hanna saying that she hadn't seen her but would ask around. Finally, Spencer said that she was sorry, but she hadn't heard from her. She asked him to keep her posted. Ezra put his shoes on, he had to go looking for her. He locked his door and went through the lobby of his apartment. He walked outside and felt the brisk air whip his neck and face. He snuggled farther into his sweatshirt and looked around. He set out to his left, but he didn't get very far. He saw Aria's car, and his girlfriend standing outside of it.

"Aria! What are you doing? It's freezing out here! You're standing out in the freezing cold in January!" Ezra ran over to her and hugged her body. Her teeth were chattering.

"I left my keys in your apartment." Aria deadpanned, accepting his hug.

"Well come inside! Here, let me get you warm." Ezra led her inside. He sat her on his couch and wrapped a blanket around her.

"I was so worried when you didn't come back, I even texted your friends and I tried calling you and texting you. Why didn't you answer?" Ezra asked, more concerned instead of angry.

"I left my phone in the car, and my car was locked. I couldn't go anywhere and I don't think I wanted to. I'm sorry I got so upset earlier, I don't know what I was thinking." Aria said regretfully, knowing that Ezra also felt bad.

"No, baby, it's okay, I was just worried about you. Are you warm yet?"

"Yeah, a little, definitely better than before. But it's late and I'm really tired, can we just go to bed?"

"Yes, of course! Let's go." He followed her to the bedroom and they got in bed together. Neither of them were asleep after fifteen minutes.

"Are you still awake?" Aria asked the darkness.

"Well I'm definitely not asleep if that's what you're asking." Ezra rolled over to face her.

"I'm sorry for earlier." Aria still felt guilty for ruining the night for them.

"Don't feel bad or anything Aria, but I'm just confused. You've been acting so different, what's wrong?"

"I can't explain it, I'm really happy with you, but it's like I'm not happy with my life anymore."

"Aria, what do you mean? That's kind of a big thing to say."

"I don't know how I meant it, just forget I said anything." Aria rolled over, facing the wall now. Ezra sighed and went to bed.

The two woke up the next morning at six. It was finally Friday, and Aria and Ezra started it off the right way, showering together. After that, Ezra got out and started to make breakfast for them while Aria blew her hair dry and got dressed. She put on a short long sleeved denim dress with a tan sweater over top, and rolled the sleeves up on her dress over the sweater. The sweater and dress both ended about mid-thigh and she wore brown cowboy boots with tan knee high socks underneath. She did her hair in a braid and her makeup was neutral. She didn't have her contacts with her, so she was forced to wear her glasses. She walked out to the kitchen to find Ezra in black pants, and blue plaid shirt with a baby blue tie on, making eggs.

"I like the glasses babe, those are sexy." Ezra turned away from his pan to grab his girlfriend and kiss her passionately.

"Want some eggs? They're almost done." Ezra suggested.

"No thanks, I told the girls I would meet them at the Grille for coffee and breakfast before school." Ezra nodded his head and put the eggs all on his plate.

"So do you have any plans this weekend?" Aria asked, making small talk at the table.

"Well just to spend the weekend with my beautiful girlfriend." Ezra smiled when he said this.

"Good, well I should head out if I'm making it to school on time. I love you." Aria pecked Ezra and was out the door. Aria didn't actually have to meet the girls before school, she just didn't want Ezra's breakfast. She decided to stop at her dad's house instead.

"Hey dad, I just stopped by quick to get some things to take to mom's tonight." Aria informed her dad before running up the stairs to her bedroom. She got some outfits and her contacts to take to Ezra's. She went back downstairs to see her dad and Mike at the table together.

"Hey hon, you want some breakfast?"

"No, I ate at mom's, thanks though." Aria smiled at her dad before grabbing her laptop to write a paper tonight.

"Are you feeling any better?" Byron asked his daughter.

"Yeah, back to normal, thanks dad." Aria tried to rush out the door.

"Hold up Aria, can I speak to you for a second before you leave?" Byron stood up from the table and took Aria to the living room.

"Aria, your mother and I, we're worried. It maybe looks like your disorder has returned? We just want to keep you healthy."

"Dad! No okay, I'm fine. I promise. Can I go to school now?" Aria pulled away, not waiting for an answer. She was frustrated that her parents were always on her about that. They just needed to mind their own business.

Aria was on her way to school now, fidgeting while driving. Her hands were shaking, she had thrown up her chicken parmesan last night after she stormed out of Ezra's. She couldn't even remember the last time she had eaten and actually kept it down. She was tired constantly, and she knew it was because she wasn't eating. She was dizzy and there were bags under her eyes. But it was working, she could see the difference. She still wasn't completely satisfied yet though. She would have to keep it up for a little while longer and then she would have to keep up with a vigorous workout regime. She pushed those thoughts to the back of her head as she parked her car in the school lot. She got out of her car and instantly felt dizzy, she had stood up too fast. She walked to her locker to get her book for chemistry. The girls were already at school, and were waiting for Aria at her locker.

"Hey Aria, where were you this morning? We waited for you at The Grille." Spencer asked Aria.

"Oh yeah, sorry, Ezra and I had a long morning you could say." Aria blushed while the girls drilled her for details. They split up to go to their separate classes, but promised to talk more about it at lunch.

Lunch rolled around relatively fast, except Aria kept spacing out. Her brain wasn't retaining any of the information that she was being taught. She met the girls in the lunch line as usual. She didn't get anything, but waited in line with the girls. They walked back to their table.

"So no lunch again Aria?" Emily asked with a worried tone.

"Oh, Ezra and I had a huge breakfast, toast, eggs, bacon, homefries, the works." Aria shrugged it off.

"So what was your argument about last night?" Hanna asked curiously.

"He called me fat basically, but apparently I was overreacting. He didn't mean it like that."

"He better not have. Otherwise, we'll kick his butt." Spencer added.

"So your morning was long? What exactly does that mean?" Emily prodded.

"Well, we had a shower and it was so nice guys. I've missed just being close to him."

"Sounds scandalous!" Hanna joked. The girls carried on their conversation until the lunch bell rang. Aria was heading to English class with Ezra. She loved looking into his eyes when she knew she wasn't supposed to be. She walked into the classroom with the rest of her classmates and waited for class to start.

"Alright guys, today we are taking a break from A Farewell To Arms and we'll be reading and acting out from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Tony, you can be Caesar, John you'll be Brutus, Aria, you can play Antony, and Maddy, could you read as Cassius for us?" Ezra appointed characters to some of the class, who came to the front of the class. They acted out the first few scenes, including sword fighting, and Aria's big speech was coming up. As the lines led up to her speech, Aria began feeling dizzy from standing for so long. She was almost panting by the time she was half way through the monologue. Aria took a pause to catch her breath, but she couldn't after a few seconds. Things were getting awkward in class because everyone was waiting on Aria. Aria sluggishly continued her speech before she couldn't continue. She bent her knees a little and put her head down, trying to catch her breath again. All of a sudden, the class starting spinning, and she could hear Ezra calling her name, but she couldn't respond as her knees gave out and she felt her whole body hit the cold linoleum floor.

"Aria! Somebody call the nurse! Aria!" Ezra ran to his girlfriend, who he had to act like she was just his student. He knelt by her side and looked at his class running around chaotically, some calling the nurse, while others ran to the nurse. Some were even in the bathroom getting wet paper towels.

"Aria, can you hear me? Can you open your eyes?" Aria remained unconscious on his floor for the second time this week. Ezra knew he had to stay calm for the rest of his students so he took Aria's pulse. If he was correct, Aria's heart was only beating about 35 beats per minute, which was not at all normal. He was really worried now. Where was the nurse? What was taking her so long? He knew that once she got here, she was going to call an ambulance, so he decided to be one step ahead and called them. They were on their way. Someone had called the office and an announcement was made to keep all students in their fourth period class due to an emergency.

"Someone call Mrs. Montgomery please! Room 135, tell her what has happened." Ezra instructed.

"Aria, can you hear me? Try to open your eyes, come on Aria!" The nurse finally ran in and instructed all of the students to leave the classroom while the paramedics loaded Aria onto a stretcher. Soon, Ella came running into the room.

"Ezra, what happened?" She exclaimed, running to her daughter.

"I don't know, we were reading a play and she just passed out!" Ella took him aside.

"I have two questions for you and both are very serious, so I need you to answer me honestly." Ella warned, Ezra nodded, knowing that this was a serious situation.

"The first one: When was the last time you saw Aria eat?" This confused Ezra, but he thought back upon the question.

"Um, yesterday, we had dinner, why?"

"Just let me ask the second question so we can get Aria to the hospital. Is there any chance that Aria is pregnant?" Ella whispered so no one else could hear.

"I-I mean, I don't think so, but may-there could be a possibility." Ezra stuttered out, knowing he couldn't lie to her, but also feeling very awkward.

"Okay, thank you. Please meet me at the hospital!" Ella ran to catch up with the paramedics. Ezra nodded, knowing he could get out of his class because he could say he was so shaken up from the incident. His plan worked flawlessly and soon enough he was on his way to the hospital. He met Aria's parents there, and soon enough, her three friends came through the door.

"Hey, what are you guys doing here?" Byron asked the girls.

"We heard what was going on, everyone's talking about it. Is she okay?" Spencer asked, leading the group.

"We don't know yet, they just took her for examination. Listen girls, have you noticed anything strange about Aria lately?" Ella asked.

"Not that I can think of, why?" Hanna responded for the group.

"When was the last time you saw her eat?" Byron added, Ezra was again confused by the urgency of this question.

"I can't even remember, she had a few carrots yesterday at lunch, but that's it." Emily responded.

"Wait, I thought she went to breakfast with you guys this morning?" Ezra pointed out.

"No, we waited for her, but she said that you two had a large breakfast together." Spencer countered.

"She uh, she came over this morning, but she didn't stay long, I offered her eggs, but she said that she had to meet you guys."

"She refused my breakfast too, she said she ate at your place Ella."

"Byron, she didn't even stay at my house last night!" Ella pointed out. Soon everything was making sense to the two parents, but Ezra and the girls were still in the dark about what was going on.

"Let's sit down and we'll explain everything." Byron led the group farther into the waiting room to sit down.

"When we spent that year in Iceland, Aria developed an eating disorder. She didn't eat for weeks and her body began to shut down. She didn't tell anyone until she was hospitalized for it. It was really bad. That's why we moved back here. We hoped that she would feel more comfortable being with her friends again. She seemed better, but lately we've noticed some of the things that might mean that she has relapsed." Ella explained to the group, Byron nodding along.

"Oh my god, why wouldn't she have told us?" Emily was perplexed, along with the rest of her friends.

"She was embarrassed, she didn't even want us to know." Byron added.

"That makes sense now, she hasn't been eating lunch lately." Hanna contemplated in her head.

"I caught her throwing up twice, but she told me that she was sick!" Ezra added shocked by what he was learning. This information would change his world completely, and could he keep up with that change?


	5. Chapter 5

When All Else Fails

_Recap: "I caught her throwing up twice, but she told me that she was sick!" Ezra added shocked by what he was learning. This information would change his world completely, and could he keep up with that change?_

"Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery?" A doctor clad in blue scrubs entered the waiting room. They walked over to him leaving the girls and Ezra behind. Ezra put his head in his hands. He was so worried about Aria, what if she wasn't okay? He blamed himself, he should have noticed what was going on with Aria, he spent the most time with her. Aria's parents walked back to the group, with stressed out faces.

"So what'd he say?" Hanna jumped up from her seat.

"He said that she was severely underweight and malnourished that her liver was beginning to fail. She was dehydrated and it seemed like her stomach began to eat itself in a way because there wasn't any food in her stomach for weeks. They put her on antibiotics, but they may have to remove her spleen, they aren't sure yet. She isn't awake yet, they have sedated her because she has a bad fever. She is in ice packs right now, and she will come out of the sedation soon. Ezra, can we speak to you for a second?" Byron and Ella pulled him aside.

"This probably goes against our better judgment, but we'd like to ask you something. Since Aria has been spending most of her time with you at your apartment anyway, we would thought maybe it would be more beneficial for her health if she lived with you full time. She can of course come home at any time, or if she is too much of a hassle for you. We would pay half of your rent and we would give you $100 for food every week. We just think that she lies to us, and she doesn't lie to you. Being separated, we can't look after her as well as you could. She says that she's staying at Byron's and tells Byron she's staying at my house, and we can't keep track of her eating and such. What do you think? We may be overstepping by asking you this but-" Ezra cut Ella off.

"Of course she can stay with me. I would love to have her stay with me, then I can know that she's healthy and safe. But you guys don't have to give me money, that would be asking too much, I can't accept that." Ezra was pleased with the idea of Aria staying with him.

"Ezra, she'll be staying with you, that means double the electricity, double the water bill, double the mouths to feed. We insist that you accept our money, you will really be doing us a favor." Byron insisted.

"Okay, yeah, that sounds great!" Ezra exclaimed.

"If Aria is okay with this, like we think she will be, we'll help her move some things in when she gets out of the hospital." Ella added. Ezra nodded.

"The doctor said we can go see her now, even though she isn't awake yet, do you want to come with us?"

"No, you guys go ahead, I'll go in when you guys are done." Ezra walked back over to the seats where the girls were waiting. He explained the situation to the girls who agreed. About fifteen minutes later, her parent's came back, saying that Aria was awake, but groggy and asking for Ezra. They warned him that she looked very fragile and she was emotional. Ezra nodded and headed back to her room. Before he opened the door, he mentally prepare himself, he knew this would be extremely hard for her. He took a breath and then opened the door.

"Hey." Aria's voice was very raspy, much like it was when they were here a few days ago.

"Hi." Ezra felt a little awkward at first, he pulled up a chair to her bed.

"I'm so sorry." Aria choked out, he could see Aria breaking inside. He rushed to her and held her.

"Don't be sorry baby, it will all be okay. You'll be okay, I promise. You're going to get better, I'm going to help you." Ezra tried to calm her down. He just held her and rubbed her back for awhile while she calmed down. Her tears turned to hiccups as she settled down.

"Did your parents talk to you about living with me?" Ezra asked when Aria was settled down in her bed.

"Yeah, that's fine with me if it's fine with you." Aria answered, she looked so small in the bed. She was broken and it was Ezra's job to put her back together.

"Aria, you scared me so much. I was so worried about you, why didn't you tell me? I love you so much. I think that you're absolutely beautiful the way you are. Please don't do this to yourself. I know it will take time, but I promise, you're going to get the help you need. I love you." Ezra said, grabbing her hand and holding it in his. A tear slipped from her eyes, but she held it together.

"I'm so sorry Ezra, you wouldn't understand though. I couldn't tell you, I was embarrassed, I was hurt, I didn't feel pretty, and I wanted to be pretty for you. My body seemed to be the only thing I could control in my life. I thought that if I was skinnier, you would be more attracted to me, and my friends would think more of me. I know it doesn't make sense to you, but it seemed right to me." Aria shrugged her shoulders, trying to help him understand.

"It'll take time babe, it will take time."

"Can you lay with me?" Aria asked innocently.

"Of course." Ezra climbed into bed with Aria and held her. Soon he could feel her deep, steady breathing. Knowing she was asleep, Ezra climbed out of bed and kissed her on the forehead. He pulled the blankets up over her body, trying to keep her warm. He turned the lights out and shut the door quietly. He walked back out the waiting room and informed everybody that Aria was sleeping. The doctor said that

Aria could be released tonight, so Ezra decided to go to his apartment and clean up a little, make things presentable for her parents. Aria's parents would bring her to Ezra's place when she was discharged. When Ezra arrived at his place, he cleaned up his living room first, then decided to work on his room. He put all of Aria's things under his bed, as not to tip off her parents that she had pretty much been living there permanently anyway. It was about 8 at night when Aria and her parents arrived. Aria now had a sling on her right arm, informing him that when the sedatives wore off, her shoulder was in a lot of pain and it turns out, she dislocated it when she hit the floor. They arrived with a suitcase of Aria's clothes and toiletries. Soon, Aria was unpacked and her parents left around 9. Soon it was just Aria and Ezra.

"So how about we get some food in you and then get you into bed." Ezra suggested. Aria shrugged, knowing this would be a long road to recovery.

"Let's so, we've got yogurt, fruit, soup, some spaghetti leftovers, what sounds good to you?"

"Um, soup sounds okay." Aria sat down at the island as Ezra heated up chicken noodle soup. She only took a few bites before she told Ezra she was full. He accepted that she wouldn't be eating a lot to start off, he just had to make sure that she kept it down. He led her to the bedroom and helped her get changed with her sling. He turned the TV on and asked her what she wanted to watch. She answered with a moan of indifference and they decided on The Big Bang Theory. Soon enough, Ezra saw that Aria was asleep again. Ezra drifted off to sleep soon after, holding Aria's small body in his arms.


	6. Chapter 6

When All Else Fails

Aria awoke very early the next morning with a lot of pain in her shoulder. She quietly shimmied out of Ezra's hold on her and tiptoed into the kitchen. She grabbed her pain meds that were on the counter with her left hand. She held it for a second before realizing that she couldn't open it with one hand, she needed two, but she could only use one hand. She struggled with it a little, trying to hit the cap of the twist-off bottle on the counter. It was quite louder than she expected and figured she should just stop trying, it was useless. But the noise woke Ezra up, and he came to her rescue by opening the bottle.

"Why you up so early babe?" Ezra handed her a glass of water.

"Couldn't sleep, my shoulder hurt. What time is it?" Aria asked, rubbing her eyes.

"It's six thirty. Do you want to go back to bed or are you up for the morning?"

"I think I'm up for awhile, I won't be able to go back to sleep. But if you want to go back to sleep, feel free." Aria grabbed a blanket off the couch and wrapped herself in it and sat down with A Farewell To Arms.

"I'm good, do you want coffee?" Ezra pulled out a cup for himself while waiting to hear Aria's response.

"Yes please." Aria drank her coffee and read her book while Ezra read the paper. By the time they were finished it was around eight and they were cuddling on the couch. Aria texted her friends and asked them to come by around ten. They agreed and Ezra promised to vacate the apartment for a while and let the girls talk. Aria needed to get a shower beforehand and Ezra helped her wash her hair. He helped her get dressed and he even blew her hair dry. Aria laughed as he struggled. He tried to put her hair up in a ponytail, but it looked awful.

"I'll just wait until the girls get here." Aria laughed, walking into the kitchen.

"So what do you want for breakfast?" Ezra walked over to the fridge.

"How does toast and half of a grapefruit sound?"

"That's fine." Aria sat on a barstool and waited for it to be ready. He placed it in front of her and he ate the remaining half of her grapefruit. She picked at the grapefruit and ate about half of her toast. The girls were coming over, but Ezra didn't want to leave before they got there. It wasn't that he didn't trust Aria, but he knew if he left she would probably be very tempted to do things he didn't want her to do. All three of them arrived together and he whispered for them to keep the conversation light as Aria had had a long night. He didn't want her to get upset, they seemed to understand and he left to do some grocery shopping.

"So we brought some trash magazines, nail polish, face masks for facials, and good lord we've got to do something with that hair!" Hanna exclaimed looking at Aria's disheveled appearance. Aria laughed along with the girls, excited to have some girl time.

"So what should we start with?" Spencer asked sitting on Ezra's bed with Aria.

"Well my nails are atrocious, so I wouldn't mind those being done." Aria laughed just knowing she looked ridiculous. Emily helped get her arm out of her sling so Hanna could paint her fingers while Spencer did her toes.

"So what's it like living with Mr. Hotpants?" Emily joked looking around Ezra's bedroom.

"It's good, I mean I pretty much lived here before, but now my parent's know, so it makes things easier. He just watches me like a hawk all the time since he found out. He is kind of treating me like an infant, but I know that that's what my parent's asked him to do and that that's what I need right now."

"Well if you ever need some relief time from Mr. Fitz, god knows why you would, but you know where to find us." Emily joked. Aria looked at her now polished toes and fingers, and loved the color that they chose, a nice pink orangeish color. Next was time for them to do Aria's hair. They first ran a brush through it, and then they straightened it.

"Wow guys, it looks great!" Aria looked in the mirror and loved what she saw.

"Okay, I have an idea, and I brought the stuff in case you wanted to do it, but I was thinking that you would look great with your hair ombréd, like a real subtle one, just to a little lighter brown. I think it would look fabulous!" Spencer added, trying to get Aria to picture it.

"Oh my god, could you guys go that? That would look so good!" Aria was excited now to go back to school on Monday with freshly painted nails and a new hairstyle. Hopefully everyone would forget about what happened on Friday, even though that was unlikely. The girls set out on trying this, hoping it would turn out well. Aria read a magazine while the girls did her hair.

"I don't get it, why do people think that Justin Bieber is hot? He has a babyface."

Aria flipped the page.

"So are you coming back on Monday?" Emily asked Aria.

"I hope so, I mean I don't know why I wouldn't be allowed, but I have to get my spleen checked in the morning, so I might come in late." The girls nodded, knowing Aria would be a little embarrassed at school her first day back, even though no one knew about her condition. The girls finished Aria's hair and loved the results. Aria put her face mask on to hydrate her skin. Ezra came through the door with many grocery bags in his hands.

"Hey girls, looks like you had fun!" Ezra said looking at Aria's facemask. He greeted her with a kiss and got some of her facemask on him. He made a funny face and wiped it off. Aria yawned and everyone noticed.

"Well it looks like someone needs a nap." Ezra joked while unloading the groceries.

"Do you girls want lunch? I got a pizza." Ezra informed the group of girls. They all agreed. Hanna then let Aria know that Caleb sends his best wishes, and that he said he would check on her sometime this weekend. Spencer said that Toby said the same thing.

"Do you want to come over to my house for a little tonight and we can order out and Toby and Caleb can over and we can hangout?" Hanna offered.

"Yeah sure, I'm probably driving Ezra crazy anyway." Aria laughed and Ezra jokingly nodded.

"No, I've got some papers to grade anyway."

"Okay, what time should we come over?" Aria asked to which Hanna responded seven.

"How about I pick you up since I don't think you can drive with that sling on." Spencer offered.

"Yeah, sure, why not? It'll save Ezra a trip." The pizza was ready now and Ezra set out Aria's pain medication with her lunch. She swallowed the pills, which made her drowsy. Soon enough, Aria was basically falling asleep at the counter.

"I think that's our queue, we'll see you later Aria." Emily said, knowing Aria should have her rest. Aria nodded and the girls left.

"Why don't you go back to bed?" Ezra asked her.

"I'm tired of being in bed, I don't want to go back to bed."

"I just want to go outside with you, take a walk, play in the park, do things that normal couples do to keep my mind off of this." Aria snapped at him.

"Aria, you know I want to do that too, but we can't, I could get arrested, and then we couldn't be together!" Ezra explained, trying to keep from being frustrated. Aria just rolled her eyes and went back to the bedroom. He listened at the door closely to make sure she didn't go to the bathroom to throw up or anything. But he didn't hear anything, and soon enough, he heard her soft snoring. He breathed a sigh of relief and went to his laptop. He typed in Symptoms of an eating disorder. He wanted to know if her short-temperedness had anything to do with it. He learned that most people recovering from an eating disorder go through something similar that drug addicts do when going through withdraw. Ezra was surprised that he learned so much, including that you needed to be very patient with recovering patients. He realized how hard this must be for Aria and he instantly felt bad for snapping back at her. He started grading more papers while the apartment was silent. He decided that while Aria was at Hanna's, he would go out and get a few things for Sunday to keep Aria busy since they couldn't go out. He heard Aria stirring in the room and he soon heard a muffled "dammit." He went back into the room to see what she was struggling with. She was trying to put a jacket on with her sling. She realized that she either needed to keep her arm under her sweatshirt or wear a zip up, but she hadn't brought a zip up. So she decided to just wear the pull-over over her sling and look ridiculous. She then noticed Ezra in the doorframe. He smiled at her and she laughed because she knew she looked ridiculous again. Ezra helped her put a pair of legging capris on and before he knew it, Spencer was there to get Aria. He left soon after that and went to the movie store. He got some chick flicks he knew she would enjoy, a long with a few comedies. He then ended up in a department store a bought a few board games. The department store happened to be near a book store, so he stopped in. He got Aria a few books he knew she would love. He then headed home and watched tv until Aria got home.

Meanwhile…

Aria and Spencer pulled up to Hanna's house and got out of her SUV. They walked to the door and was greeted by Hanna who said that everybody was already inside. Toby was the first one to spot Aria and he got up and hugged her.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" Toby expressed as Aria winced.

"Ahhh, Toby…" Aria warned, but it went unnoticed by Toby.

"Toby, she's got a sling on! Be careful!" Spencer warned him and he immediately backed away.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, I didn't know! I hope I didn't hurt you!" Toby was scared he had until he saw Aria smile. She did her hellos to everyone else. They spent the night just talking and hanging out. It was the first time in a while that Aria felt relieved to be eating with her friends.


	7. Chapter 7

When All Else Fails

Sunday went smoothly with Aria and Ezra watching movies and Ezra letting Aria win in scrabble. They played some card games, but Aria was getting a little restless.

"I just need to get out of this apartment. It's nothing about you, its just there's only so much you can do in these four walls, you know?" Aria felt bad saying that, hoping it wouldn't offend him.

"I have an idea if you're up for it?" Ezra suggested smiling. Aria smiled back and they got ready to go. Aria put on a pair of skinny jeans with brown knee high boots. She put on a cream colored sweater with her brown jacket overtop. She had cream colored scarf, hat, and mittens to match her sweater.

"You look like an adorable little ball of fur!" Ezra grabbed Aria and spun her around. She giggled and realized that it was snowing out. She loved the snow. Ezra was dressed in a black coat with a red scarf and black gloves with earmuffs on.

"You ready?" Ezra grabbed his wallet from the island countertop.

"Yepp!" Aria left first, knowing they couldn't leave together. She unlocked Ezra's car and went in the passenger seat and put the keys in the ignition to warm up the car. Five minutes later, Ezra came down and hopped in the driver's seat. They were in the car for awhile and finally they were in Philadelphia, where no one could catch them being together.

"So what do you want to do first? We could go shopping, or go to a museum, or grab some lunch? Whatever you want to do." Aria contemplated her options and decided on going to a museum first. They walked to the Museum of Natural History and spent about an hour there. They went to a small bistro for lunch and then headed to King of Prussia to do some shopping. About four hours later, Aria's free arm was filled with bags and her wallet was empty. Ezra felt the same feeling, his arms full with Aria's bag and his wallet was empty. They got in the car and started the two hour drive home.

"Thank you for today, I had a lot of fun!" Aria was exhausted and fell asleep for most of the drive home. By the time they got home it was 10 pm and Aria had to go to school tomorrow, so he didn't want to wake her. Ezra looked around to see if anyone else was around that could spot them. The streets were vacant so Ezra took the initiative and carried her inside. He had to take a second trip so he could get all of the bags. He came back and found Aria still asleep on the bed. He didn't know if he should put her pajamas on or leave her how she is. He decided on the latter because he knew that she needed her sleep. If she would wake up, then he would help her change, but he didn't want to wake her if he didn't have to. He turned the lights out and got into bed with her.

Ezra woke up around six, but let Aria sleep because she had a doctor's appointment, but it was later in the day. He still wasn't sure if he should take a half day and go with Aria to the doctor's appointment, or if he should let her be alone and go by herself. He checked his phone and Byron had texted him. It said:

_Ezra, I will take Aria to her doctor's appointment in the morning. I will be there at eight. _

Ezra texted him back saying that was fine, but Aria was still sleeping, so he would leave a key under the mat for Byron to get in. Ezra left the apartment at seven for work and texted Aria saying that he was sorry he had to leave so early, but that her dad would be there at eight and that he would see her in fourth period. The morning went by pretty slowly, and everyone was still talking about Aria's episode. Ezra ate his lunch in his classroom and he received a text from Byron saying:

_Took her to the doctor, her spleen is fine, but she has to go for one last check up next week. Her shoulder isn't doing well so they kept her in the sling and prescribed her more medicine. She might need surgery to fix some torn tendons. She goes back in three days. They also set her up with a therapist for her issue. I took her for lunch afterwards, so she probably won't eat lunch._

Ezra responded with a short okay, sounds good and got ready for his next class, fourth period. The student's walked in and were mostly talking about Aria, and Ezra knew she would be embarrassed. He quieted everyone down and Aria walked in with a few other students. Everyone kept asking her if she was okay and what had happened.

"Alright guys, quiet down, I know you're all excited to see that Aria is okay, but we've got work to do. Today is a work period so you guys can work on your term papers. I'm willing to review parts of your term paper, but I will not edit the entire thing. Alright, get to work, come see me if you have any questions!" Ezra announced as the class got to work.

"Ms. Montgomery, can I see you for a second?" Ezra asked and Aria walked towards his desk. Everyone in class was talking, so they couldn't hear their conversation.

"How was the doctor's?"

"Okay, I might need surgery for my shoulder, but other than that things are fine. Can I go to the bathroom?" Aria asked him.

"Um…" Ezra thought about this for a second and didn't know how to answer. He didn't know if she actually wanted to go to the bathroom or if she wanted to get rid of her lunch.

"I actually have to go to the bathroom…" Aria trailed off, waiting for him to sign her pass.

"Okay." Ezra agreed reluctantly, suspicious about the timing of her asking. Ezra was editing some of his student's paragraphs when he heard his phone vibrate. He checked it and saw that it said S.O.S. from Hanna Marin. He didn't know exactly what it meant, but Aria was still gone, so he knew it had something to do with her. He went and asked the teacher next to him if he could keep an eye on he class while he ran to the office for something. He left the classroom and asked Hanna where she was. He found her before he had time to respond.

"What's going on?" Ezra asked looking around the empty hallway.

"I went in there and I heard someone throwing up, I think it's her, I mean I'm not sure, but I mean, I don't think anyone else is throwing up and she has the same shoes on as Aria. I didn't know what to do, she didn't hear me." Hanna informed him. Ezra ran into the bathroom, knowing if she was throwing up, that it was empty.

"Aria!" He yelled as soon as he opened the door, he could hear someone throwing up in the last stall. He knew it was her. He unlocked the stall door by sliding his fingers through the lock and unlocking it. He burst in and sure enough, it was Aria. She wasn't throwing up anymore, but she was slumped over the toilet, crying.

"I'm sorry, I just had to, it was too much too soon!" Aria cried.

"I know babe, I know." Ezra knew that she meant it and that he couldn't get mad with her because he read that that can make a recovering person feel even more guilty. He rubbed her back while she cried some more and eventually, her tears subsided.

"I hate that you guys feel like you have to babysit me, and I hate that I can't control myself. I hate it all, I hate myself for doing this, I feel so much pressure to be perfect now and I can't be!" Aria exploded in a fit of tears and rage. She was frustrated with herself.

"Aria, hey, it's okay, I don't expect you to be perfect, I don't even want you to be perfect! It will all be okay, I promise." Ezra held her until she was ready to go back to class. He quietly left the bathroom and walked around until he figured that Aria was back in class. He went back to his classroom to see them working diligently, but chatting away. He was impressed, but he saw Aria struggling to write because of her sling.

"Aria, if you want to tell me what you want to say, I can type it on the computer." Ezra offered, not confusing the class because he would dot his with any of his students. Aria nodded and proceeded to convey to Ezra what she wanted to write in her paper while he made a few minor corrections. Things were a little awkward between the two of them later when they got home because of the incident that happened at school. Aria just told him she was tired but he didn't want her to go to bed without eating dinner.

"Ezra, I'm just really tired! I just want to sleep! My shoulder is killing me and I don't want to wait for twenty minutes while you cook dinner!" Aria yelled from the bedroom.

"Aria, I'm trying to help you, but you won't accept it! I'm trying to help you get better but I don't think you even want to! You're refusing to eat, you're throwing up again, you're mood is insane! I don't know what to do anymore! I've been trying to help you Aria, but I'm starting to think that maybe I'm not the best person for the job!" Ezra yelled as this time it was his turn to slam the door in her face.


	8. Chapter 8

When All Else Fails

Aria was mad, she was really mad. He can't just walk out on her in the fragile state she was in! She gets it, she was being a bitch, but she couldn't really help it sometimes. She was having a hard time breathing from all of her crying. She didn't know exactly why, but she felt bad about what she had said to set Ezra off. Aria ran out of the apartment with her raincoat on because it was storming pretty bad out. She ran the empty streets for a few blocks, with no avail. It was getting dark and cold, and it was beginning to thunder and lightning. She decided to head back to the apartment and on the way she almost ran into someone running. She looked up and it was Ezra. He was running back to the apartment too.

"Aria! I'm so sorry!" Ezra yelled over the pouring rain.

"So am I! I should never have been a bitch like that! I know you're just trying to help!" Aria pushed she soaking wet hair out of her face.

"I never meant to seem like I gave up on you! I love you!"

"But why? Why me? Ezra, I'm so screwed up! Why do you love me?"

"Because you laugh at my taste in movies. Because you always have everyone's best interest's in mind. Because you run your hand through your hair when you're listening to someone intently. Because when you're trying to be cute, you you're your eyebrow. And because you wish your parents were still together, but you'll never admit that." Ezra yelled as she ran her hand through her hair.

"And even though we're both going to catch pneumonia out here, if you need to hear why I love you, I can go on all night." Ezra finished as Aria smiled.

"That's good enough." Aria whispered before she jumped in Ezra's arms and kissed him passionately. They continued to make out as the rain poured down on them. Ezra broke the kiss apart and he led them upstairs to his apartment. He kicked open the door while kissing Aria and he spun her around the close the door. He pushed her up against the closed door and she wrapped her legs around him. He lifted her back to the bedroom while kissing her neck. She went to unbutton his shirt he was still wearing from work. That was off without a hitch and next was his undershirt. He lifted his arms up and she pulled it over his head, only breaking their kiss when they had to. He pulled Aria's coat off and then her sweater that she had on. Aria was going for Ezra's belt buckle when he was going for the clasp of her bra. Aria placed a series of kisses down his chest and undid the button on his work pants. She pulled them off and then Ezra did the same to her. The night surely made up for their arguments that day.

The morning came by way too soon for the couple.

"Ughh do we have to go? Can we just stay in bed all day?" Aria moaned rolling over to snuggle into Ezra's naked body.

"I wish we could, I really wish we could, but if we're both out that sounds suspicious." Ezra laughed kissing the top of her head. Aria moaned while getting in the shower. When she was done, Ezra jumped in and Aria made the two scrambled eggs. They ate together and left around the same time, but getting into separate cars. They arrived at school at relatively the same time, but Aria sat in her car for a little while, listening to music and getting ready for the day. She touched up her makeup and started to itch her shoulder. She decided to go without her sling for a little because she felt that even though it hurt, she needed to stretch it out. She left it in her car and then waited for her friends at her locker.

"Hey Han." Aria greeted her more friendly than usual as she walked up to her locker.

"Hey, how are you?" Hanna asked as the other girls walked up.

"I'm okay, how about you?

"Well I'll tell you how I am, I'm pissed. Toby keeps distracting me from studying and I got a C yesterday. My first C!" Spencer complained.

"Wow, is bitch being a Spencer today?" Emily teased.

"Apparently." Aria laughed and answered for Spencer. They walked to first period together before splitting up.

"So how's the shoulder doing?" Emily asked in chemistry.

"It's okay, I go back to the doctor's tomorrow to schedule my surgery, but I needed to stretch it out today so I ditched my sling."

"Oh, gotcha, well let us know when the surgery is so we can come visit you!"

"Of course I will!" Aria answered. The girls went to lunch later and made sure Aria ate a salad with dressing and milk and an apple. The girls were impressed when she finished all of it. Aria's phone buzzed and all the girl's waited to see if theirs would too, meaning an A text. Aria read it to herself before reading it allowed:

"Well, well, if you want to keep doing your teacher, you're also going to have to keep doing what I want to. You better go throw up that lunch fatty, or I'll tell on you.

-A" All of the girls jaws dropped open.

"I'm going to kick A's ass!" Hanna stood up from her seat at the table enraged.

"I can't believe she said that! Is that like a threat?" Emily jumped in.

"A never jokes around, what do I do guys?" Aria asked.

"Well don't do it, okay? Promise us?" Spencer added, worried.

"No, I won't, I promise, I just thought A was done." Aria sounded upset and scared that A was still messing around with them.

"I promise nothing bad will happen." Emily reassured as they walked to fourth period. Aria walked to the water fountain to fill up her water bottle while Spencer pulled Mr. Fitz aside.

"She ate her lunch today! Her whole lunch! So make sure she doesn't throw up or anything, but it's looking good." Spencer reported and Ezra smiled and thanked her. Aria walked into the room and someone shoved her by accident and she doubled over and held her shoulder. She cried out in pain.

"Geez, what's going on guys?" Ezra ran into the class hearing the commotion from the hallway. He saw Aria on her knees bending down holding her shoulder. Ezra parted the crowd around her.

"Guys come on, you have to be careful!" Ezra scolded the class as he helped Aria to her feet.

"Are you alright Aria?" He asked, making sure she was okay.

"Yeah." She groaned out, obviously still in pain, but she was okay. He helped her to her seat and started class. When the bell rang signaling the end of the class, Aria walked to Ezra's desk.

"Do you have any of my pain pills?" Aria asked moving her shoulder around slowly.

"Uh yeah actually, I bring some to work with me for instances like these, it was only a matter of time." Ezra chuckled, handing them to her.

"Why aren't you wearing your sling anyway?"

"I thought I needed to stretch it out, it felt all stiff and cramped and stuff."

"Oh, well now I feel like there's no way in avoiding that shoulder surgery." Ezra said, hoping she would feel better.

"Yeah, I know right. Can't wait for that." Aria joked as she walked out of his class to fifth period. Aria went home to their apartment and waited for Ezra to get home. She realized that she didn't have her phone though, she must have left it in her locker. Ezra walked through the door with a stressed look on her face.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Aria greeted him.

"You left this in class, and it kept ringing, so I looked at it, thinking that it was an emergency. Who's A?" Ezra showed her the text she had gotten at lunch.

"A, she's I can't explain it, you'll think I'm crazy."

"ARIA! WHO IS A AND WHY IS SHE TELLING YOU TO GO THROW UP AND WHY DOES SHE KNOW ABOUT US?" Ezra was obviously mad as he screamed, not mad at her, but upset and confused about this whole situation.

"A, she's been harassing us since Ali's body was found. We don't know who it is! She knows everything about our lives, but she won't tell anyone, she's just messing around, she likes to get us all concerned and then it ends up being nothing!" Aria explained.

"Why didn't you tell me that someone was harassing you? Why haven't you gone to the police with this?"

"Because she's always one step ahead of the police. She can ruin us in a minute if we go to the police. She won't harm us if we don't tell we don't think" Ezra sighed at this new revelation.

"I honestly don't know what to say, this is unbelievable."

"I know babe, but trust me, everything is fine." Aria calmed him down. She had made dinner, so by the time they were done, Ezra wasn't even thinking about A anymore. They laid on the couch and watched tv again when Aria started moaning.

"What is it now?" Ezra asked with a laugh at how much of a mess Aria was.

"I have cramps that would rip your head off. Can you get me some Midol? It's in the bathroom." Ezra had that look on his face that any man would have if they were asked.

"Aria, can you even take that with your pain medicine?" Ezra countered sitting up.

"Yeah, I'll be fine, just the sooner I get that in my mouth the sooner I'll stop complaining. Now chop chop!" Aria barked and Ezra just laughed. He brought her two and a glass of water. She swallowed them.

"See, aren't you glad we live together now and can share this together." Aria teased.

"Definitely." Ezra said sarcastically.

"But it's a good thing though," Aria turned serious, "it means that my eating is getting better. When I wouldn't eat a lot I wouldn't even get my period."

"Well then I guess it's a good thing then, even if I have to put up with your moaning for a week."

"Oh, it'll be more than a week honey." Aria teased and Ezra just shook his head, completely happy with his life at the moment.


	9. Chapter 9

When All Else Fails

It was the day of Aria's shoulder surgery about two weeks after that and Ezra had taken the day off of work so he could be there when she woke up and help her get settled at home and such. It was an outpatient surgery, so she would only be at the hospital for about three hours. Her surgery was scheduled for eleven in the morning, but they had to be there at eight to get her prepped. Ezra woke her at seven so she could shower. Her shoulder had actually been in a lot of pain since what happened in class the other day. She was showered and put on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt with no bra on to go to the hospital. She was instructed not to wear one since they would be operating on her shoulder, but she felt awkward leaving the apartment in just a t-shirt. When she walked out of their bedroom, Ezra was on his laptop looking for job openings at Hollis. There was one in the English department he was looking at, and that would mean that he would finally be able to go out in public with Aria, since she will be turning eighteen in a few weeks.

"You ready?" Ezra asked looking up at her.

"Yeah, I'm hungry though."

"I'm so glad to hear you say that, but I can't feed you. You know you can't eat before your surgery, it will mess with your anesthesia." Ezra felt bad for her.

"I know, I know." Aria laughed, enjoying the last few minutes of being sling free because after her surgery, she would be wrapped in an ace bandage from her shoulder across her body and under her opposite arm and back around her shoulder, along with a sling. It wasn't even a sling really, more of a one-armed straight jacket. They drove to the hospital, meeting Aria's parent's there. That sat with her in the hospital bed until she had to be wheeled down to the OR.

"We'll be here when you wake up honey." Ella kissed her forehead before she was taken away.

"You'll do great sweetie, I love you." Byron told her as he squeezed her hand.

"I love you babe, you'll be fine, don't worry." Ezra reassured. Aria nodded, beginning to be a little frightened with what was going on. Before she knew it, she was being wheeled away from her family and was in an operating room.

"Okay Aria, we'll go over the surgical procedure one more time. So we're going to put you under after we put your IV in, and then we'll open you're shoulder up and repair your torn tendons, then sew you back up and you'll be good as new! Sound good?" Her doctor was very friendly and wanted to make sure Aria wasn't worried before they put her under the anesthesia.

"Yepp, that's fine, just make sure I don't say anything stupid when I get out," The doctor just laughed before telling her that he was putting her IV in.

"Alright Aria, we're going to put this mask on you to put you to sleep. Can you breathe deeply and count backwards from ten?" One of the nurses instructed. Aria did as she was told and only got to number seven before she was out.

Her surgery was actually only about an hour, but with all of the prep in the OR and the half hour she spent in recovery, Ella. Byron, and Ezra weren't allowed to see her until 12:45. When Aria was wheeled back into the room, she was very drowsy and out of it. She was acting pretty goofy.

"Look, it's my mommy!" She told the nurse who was trying to Aria ready to go home. The nurse just laughed and played along.

"And do you want to know who he is? He's my boyfriend, but he's-" Byron quickly cut Aria off before she said too much information.

"He's her tutor! He helps her with math!"

"Well Aria, it looks like you've got yourself a keeper!" The nurse laughed before leaving the room.

"So, how do you feel?" Ella asked her.

"I feel fantastic Mom! Like I'm pretty sure they didn't even do anything, just like gave me magical powers to make my shoulder feel numb!" The group just rolled their eyes at how hysterical Aria was acting. Soon the anesthesia had worn off completely and Aria was groggy. She was half asleep when she was discharged. Byron brought Ezra's car around to the front entrance while Ezra got her medication from the doctor for pain and swelling. Ella stayed with Aria and had helped her to the car. Her parents said their goodbyes with promises to visit later in the week when she was feeling a little better. Aria was sleeping on a pillow that Ezra had brought for her to use in the car for the 45 minute drive home. She was out before they were even out of the parking lot. Ezra pulled into Rosewood as scheduled and was wondering how he was going go get Aria inside. He could carry her, but he didn't want to risk bumping her shoulder, so he decided on waking her.

"Aria, babe, come on, we're home, you'll be more comfortable inside." Ezra had to gently shake her a couple of times before she woke. She willingly got out of the car and into Ezra's apartment. Ezra had set her up in the bed with a lot of pillows and he even had received a large ice pack that velcroed around her shoulder to keep the swelling down. He helped her into bed and knew that she was tired. He had brought a spare pillow and blanket out of the room before shutting the door so she could sleep. Ezra was going to sleep on the couch for the next few nights so he didn't bother Aria while she recovered. It was almost 3 and he knew the girls would want to come over. He texted Hanna and informed her that Aria was sleeping and wasn't up for visitors quite yet, but maybe later tonight. Ezra worked on his own writing while Aria slept. He eventually turned the TV on to Forgetting Sarah Marshall. He placed a call into Hollis and let them know that he was interested in an interview and they set him up with one. While he was revising his resume, he heard Aria's raspy voice.

"Ezra!" He glanced at the clock, it was about 5 now, and Aria was allowed to have her next dose of pain medication. He grabbed it, knowing that was probably what she needed, and then walked back into the room.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Ezra asked, taking a seat on the bed.

"I'm okay, but can I have my medicine?" Ezra handed it to her and grabbed the water bottle off the nightstand. She downed it quickly and started to get out of bed.

"Where are you going? Let me help you." Ezra said jumping at the chance to help her.

"I was going to the bathroom." Aria laughed, slowly getting up. Ezra helped her to the bathroom and waited for her to finish and then helped her back into bed.

"Are you hungry?"

"I could eat."

"What would you like? We have soup, that will probably be the best, the doctor said the medicine might make you nauseous with food." Ezra suggested and Aria agreed. He went to making her vegetable soup in the kitchen and came back within minutes. He had to feed her in a way because she could only use one arm. There was a knock at the door, so Ezra had to place the bowl down to go see who was here.

"Is she up for visitors yet?" Spencer asked as the girls appeared in the doorway with get well soon balloons.

"Yeah, she just woke up actually. I can't promise how long she'll be awake, but yeah, come on in." Ezra led the girls back to their bedroom and continued to feed her while the girls talked.

"So how was she coming out of it?" Emily asked Ezra.

"She was pretty out of it, that's for sure. Good thing Byron was on his toes, she almost told her nurse that she was dating her teacher." Ezra laughed along with the girls. The conversation died down, but Aria was glad to have company. Ezra left the bedroom when Aria was finished eating so the girls could talk. About ten minutes later, Hanna rushed towards to living room.

"Aria says she needs a bucket, she's going to be sick!" Hanna practically shouted, disgusted. Ezra jumped up and grabbed one from the counter because he figured he would need one. He got there just in time as Emily was holding Aria's hair back and Ezra held the bowl up to her mouth, looking away. He feared if he watched he would also be sick. She had finished a few minutes later and Ezra helped her to the bathroom to get cleaned up. She was back in bed within a few minutes.

"Sorry you guys had to witness that." Aria said sheepishly.

"Aria, you seem to forget who took care of you in Noel Kahn's bathroom when you puked like there was no tomorrow after you drank so many of tho-" Spencer started but was cut off by Aria.

"Alright Spencer, thank you, I'm sure you all remember that night very well, no need to relive it!" Ezra just snorted a laugh.

"Well, I think that was our queue to leave. We'll come by tomorrow okay? Feel better girl." Hanna began the goodbyes. The girls were gone by six and Ezra was dumping the puke into the toilet and then washing the bowl out. He knew then that he would have to take the next few days off to take care of Aria. He went back into the bedroom with the bowl handy.

"I'm sorry you had to see that too, I'm disgusting." Aria laughed at herself.

"Don't be sorry babe, it's fine." Ezra kissed her head. Ezra tried to keep her awake until seven when she could have her next dose of pain medication. It wasn't that hard, but when it turned seven and Aria got her medicine, she was out like a light again. Ezra laid down on the couch and laughed at himself going to bed at seven. He knew it was pathetic, but he also knew that they had a long night ahead of them.

Ezra awoke to the sound of Aria throwing up again. It was 11:30 and she would need her pain medication again too. Ezra ran into the bedroom to find Aria basically covered in her own vomit. He winced.

"I'm sorry, I tried to grab the bucket, but I couldn't hold it with my one hand! I feel awful!" Aria really did feel bad as the only thing Ezra could do was laugh as he gagged. He had a really weak stomach. He started a bath for Aria, knowing that she couldn't get her shoulder wet for another 24 hours. He wrapped her shoulder in seran wrap just in case and stuck her in the bathtub while he stripped the sheets and put them in the washer. He put the spare set on the bed and sprayed the room with febreeze. He gave Aria her next dose of pain medication and sat in the bathroom on a stool while Aria sat in the bathtub.

"I'm really sorry you have to deal with me. You must really love me for this." Aria felt guilty that she had woke him up too.

"I do really love you, that's why I put up with you and all your antics." Ezra joked as he put Aria's clothes in the washer too. He soon helped her out of the tub and got her in a new pair of pajamas. While he was dressing her, his hand brushed by her forehead.

"Aria, you're really hot!"

"So you've said before!"

"No, like you're actually hot, like you have a fever." Ezra left and saw that that was on the warning label of the pain medication. He just sighed and put Aria back in bed. He got a cold damp washcloth and put it on her forehead along with new ice packs. She was asleep again soon enough and Ezra was exhausted. They had a long night and it was only midnight.


	10. Chapter 10

When All Else Fails

The night went by only interrupted a few more times, but nothing major. Ezra had taken the rest of the week off to take care of Aria, who was unable to do practically anything for herself. She couldn't even feed herself, which made her feel a little incompetent. But Aria was recovering smoothly from her surgery and felt that she needed to give Ezra some much needed time alone. He hadn't been alone since she had moved in, so she went to spend the weekend with her family. They loved having her, if just for the weekend and they took great care of her. On Sunday night, Aria went back to Ezra's, knowing she had to go back to school on Monday.

"I'm going to have so much makeup work, I'm dreading it!" Aria whined as she sat at the counter eating dinner with Ezra.

"Hey, so am I, we can do it together!" Ezra also had to go back to school tomorrow and was frankly a little upset about it. He had enjoyed his time off with Aria, even if it did involve cleaning up her puke.

"I missed you when I was at my moms." Aria turned serious, but still smiling.

"Well I missed you too." He kissed her on the nose and started the clean up their bowls of lo mein and fried rice. Aria was still in her sling and surgical wrap, and she was still restricted to use her arm at all. School tomorrow was going to be tough, she couldn't write at all, and how would she carry her books? She would figure it out in the morning, but right now, she had to get some sleep, knowing it would be a long day tomorrow.

The couple woke up early so Ezra could help Aria wash her hair and he had even mastered the flat iron in the couple of days that they were home together. It didn't look all too bad, and Aria was surprised. She picked out what she wanted to wear and Ezra helped her put it on, it was a simple outfit of leggings with a sweatshirt, no one would judge her because she just had surgery, so she really didn't care what she looked like. Her sweatshirt again either had to go over her whole sling so Aria wouldn't help but giggle as Ezra put it on her.

"What do you keep laughing at?" Ezra looked up from his spot on the floor putting Aria's vans on.

"It's just that, I look ridiculous with this sweatshirt covering my arm. It looks like they just amputated my arm instead of fixing it!" Aria was laughing so hard and Ezra was looking at her like she was crazy. It wasn't that funny, but Ezra started laughing at how much Aria was laughing. It turned into a fit of the giggles for both of them and neither could stop laughing. After they had recovered, they left for school separately, Aria a little earlier so she could get her makeup work from her other teachers. School went by rather slowly and Aria felt very far behind, but everyone was so willing to help her that she was okay with it. Fourth period came around and the class welcomed back not only Aria, but Mr. Fitz also.

"Mr. Fitz, where were you for four day?" One of his male students asked.

"I was visiting some family in New York actually, it was freezing." Ezra said laughing along with his students.

"Now let's welcome back Ms. Montgomery from her shoulder surgery, and everybody be willing to help her, we don't need any more accidents like before, sound good guys?" Ezra told his class. They all nodded and got to work on a project they had started while Ezra was out. Aria joined in a group and the rest of the school day went relatively fast for Aria. The rest of the week went slowly with no accidents or anything, she was relieved, her life had begun to seem like a movie with all of the drama. There was one thing on her mind though, and that was that she was late. She had cramps and other signs of PMS but she never actually got her period. She was a little worried because she thought that she had been eating well and so she should be getting it. She talked to her friends about it over lunch on Saturday at The Grille.

"I'm not really sure though, should I see my nutritionist? I thought I've been eating a well-balanced diet. I mean, I'm eating three meals a day with snacks in between." Aria asked her friends for their advice, but knowing if she told Ezra he would freak out saying that she's not eating enough, even though she thought she was to begin with.

"I would, just to be sure, there's probably nothing wrong, it's probably just that it takes some time to become regular again." Spencer suggested.

"Yeah, I wouldn't worry about it." Hanna added, feeling that Aria might just be overthinking it. Aria nodded her head but made a mental note to make an appointment with her nutritionist. She called later that day and they wanted to see her as soon as possible. They didn't want anything to happen to her, if she wasn't getting enough nutrients. They scheduled her later in the day, which was perfect since Ezra had an interview with Hollis, so he wouldn't even have to know. She took Spencer along with her for support and that sat in the waiting room of the doctor's office. Spencer was looking around at the disgusting pictures on the wall.

"This is gross, I'm never doing this again!" Spencer had to look away from the wall because it was making her sick. Aria just gave her a look.

"I mean, I will support you in whatever you need me to!" Spencer faked enthusiasm and aria just laughed. They called Aria's name and Spencer went back with her. First, she would just talk to her doctor, and then she would be examined.

"Alright Aria, what seems to be the problem today?" Her doctor said looking over her previous health history.

"Well since my hospitalization, I think I've been eating very well. Like I eat all three meals a day and keep them down, and I'm not eating junk, I'm eating healthy food and stuff. I haven't started working out or anything, but I still haven't gotten my period, and I'm a little worried that my body isn't accepting the nutrients or something." Aria explained.

"Well that's very common in women recovering from an eating disorder. When was your last period?"

"Oh geez, probably four months ago." Aria revealed, which surprised the doctor.

"And when did you start eating regularly again?"

"About three months ago."

"Well, I can't think of any reason why you wouldn't be getting it, so let's take a look." The doctor had Aria hop up on the table and she started by pressing on her stomach and asking if she had any pain. Aria said that she wasn't in any pain, but there was some pressure. The moved onto a gynecological exam next. Aria hoped that Spencer wouldn't feel too awkward being in the room for this, but she was fine, she stayed seated at Aria's head and held her hand. When the doctor was all finished, she removed her gloves and sat back at her computer.

"Well Aria, there's some things that could be the reason for this. Would you like your friend to step outside for this?" Aria shook her head no, and the doctor proceeded.

"Well, it could be from your shoulder surgery, the medication can mess with your cycle sometimes. That would be a logical reason. Another reason would be because you're stressed out. Have you been under a lot of stress lately?" The doctor asked, writing notes about what Aria is saying.

"No, not that I can think of, I've actually been feeling a lot less stressed since I've been seeing my therapist and everything." Aria answered the doctor.

"Well then I've got one more possible answer to your problem. Is it possible that you could be pregnant?" Aria thought about it, shocked at the question. She wasn't on birth control because she usually ended up throwing up whatever she took, but she didn't think that Ezra and her were ever unprotected.

"I don't think that's possible, I'm always safe." Aria responded, a little scared.

"Well, why don't we do a blood test just to be sure? That way we can rule that out if you're not pregnant. I'll be right back." The doctor stepped out to get her supplies. Aria and Spencer sat in silence for a few minutes before Spencer broke it.

"Wow, pregnant, that would be-"

"Stop it, I don't even want to think about it until I get the results." Aria said, tears forming in her eyes. The doctor drew her blood and told Aria that they would have the results in a matter of hours and they would call her. Spencer drove Aria back to her apartment, but on the way they made a pit stop.

"I can't wait a matter of hours Spence, I need to know now!" Aria walked into a drug store and bought three pregnancy tests after making sure no one she knew was in the store. Aria put her sunglasses on and went back into the car.

"Do you want me to wait with you while you take them?" Spencer asked when they pulled up to the apartment. Ezra wasn't home yet, so now was a good time to take them.

"Would you?" Aria pleaded, not wanting to do this alone.

"Yeah, do you want me to call the other girls too?" Aria nodded and let herself and Spencer into the apartment. The other girls were over within ten minutes and they were shocked, but supportive. Aria went in and peed on the three sticks and waited for five minutes with the girls waiting to see what they would say.

"God this is the longest five minutes of my life!" Hanna whined about a minute and half into their wait.

"Oh, of your life, yeah I'm sure this is real tough on you." Aria rolled her eyes. Hanna apologized and Aria accepted it but stayed quiet. The kitchen timer went off and Emily went to retrieve the tests from the bathroom counter. She handed them to Aria, who refused to look at them.

"Just tell me what they say." Emily looked at the results.

"Well, there's a 2/3 chance that you're pregnant, one of them is negative." Emily revealed, showing her the negative one. Aria broke down in tears and all the girls comforted her.

"Hey, you don't know anything for sure yet, that negative could be the right one, just don't get upset yet." Hanna hugged her, trying to calm her down.

"Ezra's going to freak out." Aria whispered, wiping her eyes.

"No he won't, he will be totally supportive." Emily reminded her.

"I'm seventeen and pregnant with my English teacher! Tell me that's not messed up." Aria felt awful, like she was going to throw up.

"Hey, you're eighteen on Wednesday Aria, and if Ezra get's the job, he won't be your teacher, everything will be legal." Spencer reminded her. Aria just sat in silence. Aria checked the time, Ezra would be home soon. Aria wiped her eyes and told the girls they should leave before Ezra gets back, he would know something was up. The girls left and Aria was trying to find a place to hide the tests. She began to think of places Ezra would never look, and she had an idea. Aria pulled her box of tampons out from under the sink and stuck the tests in there and then she put the box back in the cabinet. She was so tired and exhausted, so she climbed into bed for a nap and was out before she knew it.

Ezra arrived home a few minutes later, but he realized that Aria was sleeping, so he took his coat off and started to make dinner. About thirty minutes later, he woke Aria up.

"Hey baby, dinner's ready, why don't you come eat?" Ezra whispered in her ear as he tucked her hair behind her ear. Aria's eyes fluttered open and she smiled.

"Hey, how'd the interview go?" Her raspy voice asked as she stretched.

"That's why we're having dinner, we're celebrating. I got the job! Your dad really did me a favor, he pulled a lot of strings to get me that interview." Ezra said kissing Aria.

"That's great babe! Are you going to take it?" Aria sat up in bed.

"I think so, then we can finally be public, me not as your teacher, and you'll finally be eighteen." Ezra smiled and helped her out of bed. They ate dinner and Ezra realized something was a little off about Aria.

"You okay hon?" He asked, clearing her plate from the table.

"What? Yeah, I'm fine, just tired." Aria hated lying to him, but she knew he would freak out if she told him, and then it ended up being nothing. Aria's phone started ringing and once Aria saw who it was she picked up immediately. Ezra could only hear Aria's side of the conversation, but it sounded like a professional one.

"Yes, this is she." Aria answered.

"Mhmm, okay, okay, yes I'll call. Thank you." Aria hung up the phone.

"Who was that? Ezra asked turning the TV on.

"Um, it was just The Grille, I applied for a job there and they wanted to know when I could come in for an interview." Aria lied again, knowing that soon she would have to apply for a job there because she was seventeen and pregnant to her English teacher.


	11. Chapter 11

When All Else Fails

Aria felt that she had to tell Ezra the information she just found out, but he would worry too much. If he was being overprotective now, she couldn't imagine what he would be like if he had a pregnant girlfriend with an eating disorder. Oh and he sort of knew about A. She was really stressing out about this big time. She played it off for the night and just played it off as her being tired. This was going to be her worst nightmare, being pregnant. That meant being fat. That would make Ezra like her even less. She decided that by tomorrow she would have a plan of what to do.

She woke up that morning knowing even less than she did when she went to bed. She felt nauseous but held it down as she ate breakfast. She went to school that morning and attended classes, but was obviously distracted. She went home and decided that she would tell her mom first. She had a plan that she hoped would work, but it ended up with her being hurt. It would save Ezra's reputation, though, and that's all Aria wanted was to protect him. If she went through with this plan, Ezra wouldn't even have to know. She decided to go over to her mom's house now. Her mom was starting to become less of her mom, but more of a friend. She knocked until her mom yelled come in.

"Hey mom, it's me!" Aria entered the small house that her mom occupied. Aria had to admit, she was a little nervous to tell her mom, but she knew her mom would support her.

"Hey honey, what's up?"

"I just came by to see how you were?"

"I'm doing okay, you know, learning to cook for one I guess." Ella laughed. They carried on the same conversation until Ella got to the point.

"Aria, what's going on? I can tell something's wrong." Ella sat her down.

"Mom, what I'm about to tell you is really going to disappoint you, and I'm really sorry for that because I never wanted to disappoint you."

"You're pregnant, aren't you?" Ella guessed and Aria broke down in tears.

"How'd you know?" Aria stuttered out.

"You can call it mother's intuition I guess. Oh honey." Ella hugged Aria, knowing this was going to be so tough for her.

"I want out Mom." Aria mumbled through her tears.

"Well you have so many options baby, adoption, you can even have an abor-"

"Mom, I meant out of Rosewood." Aria deadpanned, her tears seizing. Ella just hugged her daughter, knowing what she meant. She let Aria calm down before speaking again.

"Honey, are you sure this is what you want? Because once you do it, you can't take it back." Ella made sure Aria knew what she was doing.

"I don't want to ruin his life."

"So you aren't even going to tell him?" Aria just shook her head no.

"I don't know if that's the best idea. I'm sure he wouldn't hate you or anything. But if you really want, I have a way for you to get out, but it has to be tomorrow."

"Okay, tomorrow, I can do that." Ella told her the plan and Aria went back to her apartment.

"Hey baby, I was thinking we could just order take out from somewhere tonight, is that okay?" Ezra asked, not looking up from his book when Aria walked in. When she didn't answer, he looked up.

"Aria, what's wrong?" Ezra jumped up, seeing her crying.

"I'm leaving tomorrow. And I can't get out of it. I'm sorry." Aria said, letting more tears fall.

"Leaving? What do you mean?"

"Parson's offered me a full scholarship for the spring semester. And I can't pass that up, that's where Marc Jacobs went, and basically everybody that's famous. If I want to make it in the real world, then I need to take this opportunity." Aria lied about going to New York, she would really be going to North Carolina to live with her mother's sister for a while.

"Aria, that's great! I can't believe it! I knew you would get in! Why are you crying?"

"Because I would have to move away, far away. And I won't have time for anything back in Rosewood." Aria cried more, knowing she was breaking Ezra's heart as she said this.

"I understand, but I believe in you. You will do amazing things in New York." Ezra just hugged her while she cried until she had settled down.

"I need to pack." Aria said after a while, but Ezra was still in shock. He nodded and helped her pack up her clothes. She knew this was definitely going to be the hardest thing she's ever done. They silently packed together, both silently hurting. Aria just packed her clothes, she left the things that weren't necessary for her to pack, like her girl stuff, like candles, some of the jewelry she had lying around.

"I have to leave tonight, I still have to pack things at home too." Aria said, crying the entire time.

"I'm leaving at eight tomorrow if you want to come by."

"Of course babe, of course." Both of them knew that this was the end of them, even if neither of them wanted to be. Aria left before they were both hurt even more. She went straight to her mom's house and cried in her arms for the whole night. Ezra spent the whole night packing up all of Aria's remaining things, everything that reminded him of her. He couldn't help but be a little angry at her. After all he had gone through, to help her get better, and she left just like that. He knew that he should go see her before she left, but he was scared that it would hurt too much. He spent the entire night before crying and trying to decide if he should go see her. He still hadn't packed all of her things from the apartment when seven am rolled around. He was literally up all night, he was still wearing his clothes from the night before. He was almost done with the entire apartment except the bathroom, then he was done. He had boxes full of books, makeup, hair things, and other things like that. He started with the shower and placed all of her shampoos and other hair products. He moved on to the sink countertops and removed the soap she bought he threw her toothbrush in the box. His last stop was under the sink and then he was done. He felt a bit relieved, but then he felt a wave of emotion rush over him. Everything in this box reminded him of her, and he was just going to throw it out. Under the sink was her hairdryer and straightener, which she must have forgotten, and her feminine products. He placed them all in the box and carried that last box out to all of the rest. He could either get rid of them all now, or wait and wallow for a while and then get rid of them. He decided that he would just get rid of them now. He took two boxes at once and walked down the stairs to the street. He tripped on his second trip out on his rug. All of the boxes spilled, just his luck. He was picking up the remnants of the boxes when he came across something that he hadn't seen before. He examined them closely and soon all of the pieces fit together. He knew why she was leaving, but it was already 8 am, when Aria said that she would be leaving. He jumped in his car and floored it to Aria's mom's house. That's where he figured that was where she would be. He arrived at 8:10 and thought it might be too late. He ran to the door and began to knock repeatedly. His knocking was nonstop until Aria answered the door.

"I was beginning to think you weren't going to come." Aria said a little relieved.

"Honestly, I didn't think I was either. Until I found this." Ezra held up the test in his hand. Aria gasped and started crying, knowing that this was the moment of truth.

"There's no scholarship is there?" Aria just shook her head no and wiped her tears. Ezra just grabbed her.

"You shouldn't have been afraid to tell me Aria. I'm just as much in this as you are. You were going to leave and not tell me?" Ezra said disbelieving.

"I didn't want to make you mad, or make you hate me, or get you fired! I wanted to protect you." Aria whimpered, figuring Ezra would be mad at her. He just hugged her and she cried for a while.

"Come on, let's go home babe." He led her to the car and helped her in. Ella figured this would happen and was glad that Ezra had come and gotten her. They waited until they were in the apartment to talk about it.

"Ezra, I'm so so sorry. I never figured this would happen. I was on the pill but after my eating disorder and my surgery they didn't think I should be on that for a while to let my body go back to normal before I went back on it.: Aria thought she was all cried out for the time being, but she was very wrong. She could barely breathe she was crying so hard.

"Aria, I'm not mad, I'm just shocked. It's not all your fault okay? I obviously had a part in this too. Don't cry baby, everything will be okay Aria." She smoothed her hair and kissed her forehead. Aria's phone vibrated, signaling a text. It read:

_Well now that the baby daddy knows about the bun in your oven. Why don't you tell your daddy, baby? Better get on it before I do._

_-A_

Aria hid it from Ezra and Aria decided that she would have to tell her dad as soon as possible because the thing she wanted the most was to protect her baby and Ezra. She couldn't risk losing either one.


	12. Chapter 12

When All Else Fails

Aria woke up the next morning sick again. This time though, as summed it up as morning sickness. Ezra was still a little angry at her that she tried to leave without telling him, but he held her hair back and rubbed circles on her back until she was done, after all, she was carrying his baby so he knew he had to take care of her. It was Monday again and Ezra had given his two weeks noticed when he accepted the job at Hollis. His last day teaching at Rosewood would be on Wednesday. It would be bitter sweet he knew, but it would all pay off in the end.

"You going to school today?" Ezra asked when they were both awake an not getting sick.

"Yeah, I can't afford to miss any more school. I'm really falling behind and I at least want to graduate before I have this baby."

"Good, because I like seeing your face everyday through Dan Farrin's faux hawk in fourth period." Ezra smiled and kissed her before he left for work. Aria had to do something before school though and she wasn't going to tell Ezra because he was already stressed out enough. Aria drove to her dad's house and sat in the car for a few minutes trying to figure out how she was going to deliver the news.

"Hey Dad!" Aria announced as she walked through their front door.

"Hey sweetie, to what do I owe this pleasure?" Byron joked, kissing her on the forehead. Aria was nervous but she was running late and her only option was to tell him now and not beat around the bush.

"Uh Mike should be here too." She called Mike over to be apart of the conversation.

"Dad, there's no easy way to put this, at all, but I'm pregnant." Aria said fastly, hoping to get it over with.

"Where are you going?"

"What?" Aria was confused by her dad's question.

"Well you obviously can't stay in Rosewood, you'll ruin the family's name! We'll all be judged for your stupid mistake! I don't want this baby to be associated with me, I don't want the baby to have my last name even, so it better be Fitz. You've got ten minutes to pack your things and get out of my house and Rosewood. I never want to see or hear from you again!" Byron raged, storming away.

Aria woke up from her nightmare in a cold sweat. Well after that dream she couldn't tell her dad! He would make her leave Rosewood and she wouldn't have any family except Ezra and this baby. She looked at the clock and realized she had to be in first period in fifteen minutes, she must have fallen back asleep when Ezra left the house. Aria had planned on going to tell her dad before school, but now not only did she not have time, she was scared beyond belief of telling her dad. She went to school and arrived just on time. She tried to focus as hard as she could today in school because she hadn't recently due to all of the other craziness in her life. She needed to get back to a normal routine. At lunch she scheduled an appointment with her doctor and she also did most of her homework in study hall. She was trying to get more organized with her life now that she was going to have a little baby in just 7 and a half months. She estimated that because she hadn't seen her doctor yet to give them an estimated due date. She walked into Ezra's class to see him talking to another student so she sat down in her seat and chatted with the people around her until the bell rang.

"Alright class, so I've got some good news for you and some bad news. Which do you want first?" The class responded with bad.

"Alright, the bad news is that Wednesday will be my last day teaching at Rosewood." His revelation stunned the class and was followed by a chorus of disappointed groans and a series of questions. Ezra just held his hand up until the class quieted down.

"The good news is that though I am leaving, I will still be around in town because I got a teaching job at Hollis and I need to take it because my girlfriend is pregnant and I need a job that pays a little better than babysitting you guys!" Aria went wide eyed and just sat there reveling in his announcement. She knew that no one would know that it was her that was his pregnant girlfriend, but eventually they would find out when it wasn't illegal for them to be together. The class all said their congratulations to him and wondered what would happen with the rest of their school year. Ezra helped them figure out what they were going to do and told them who their long term substitute would be. After class Aria left with the promise that she would see Ezra at home. She went straight to the apartment and took a nap. She was so exhausted just from going to school. She awoke when Ezra came home about an hour later. There was a message on the answering machine that Ezra played when he got in. It was for Aria from her dad.

"Hey Aria, um it's Dad. I was just calling because I uh- I got something today that- well just call me back or come over or whatever. We need to talk." Byron hung up the phone and Aria stood there speechless.

"Wonder what that's about?" Ezra looked towards Aria.

"Um, I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say that he knows."

"Knows what?" Ezra asked, not thinking.

"That I'm pregnant Ezra. Are you okay?" Aria asked realizing that that entire thing just went right over his head.

"Oh yeah, no, I'm fine, I guess it just hasn't sunk in yet." Ezra smirked at the thought. Aria grabbed the phone and called her dad, who just said that Ezra and her should come over. The two jumped in the car, ready to face the music.

"Hey Dad! We're here." Aria announced when they walked through the door.

"Hey guys, I um, I got this letter today at Hollis. What, what does this mean?" Byron extended the letter to her to read.

"Dad, I don't know who would have written this?"

"Well, is it true?!" Byron asked the couple and looked at Ezra.

"Byron, listen to me, it was a mistake, but yes it's true." Ezra said while Aria continued to read the letter. Byron covered his mouth and bent over.

"Holy shit. Aria, how could you have let this happen? Who is this A person?"

"I don't know Dad, I don't know any of it! I don't know who A is, I don't know how I let this happen, it's all a mess." Aria broke down in tears for what felt like the hundredth time these past few weeks.

"A is back? Aria what is going on?" Ezra asked her and she kept crying.

"I'm sorry my hormones are all out of wack." Aria took a few breaths to calm down.

"I honestly don't know. I can tell you that whoever it is has it out for me and my friends. They have ever since Ali's body was found. They're the one that hit Hanna with the car, and they keep leaving tracks that try to pin us four as the murderers." Aria remained vaguely calm.

"What? Aria, this person is threatening you girls with violence! You have to tell the police!" Byron was surprised.

"No we can't, I'm sure I'll get another message for telling you this. She's always one step ahead of the police. They'll never get her." Aria had become relatively familiar with this stuff and while her father and her boyfriend freaked out for her safety.

"And you're sure you're pregnant?" Byron asked disappointed.

"Yeah Dad, I am." Aria knew she was hurting him, but she couldn't lie to him either.

"How could you two be so stupid? You can't even be in public together and you're having a child. This is going to be so much harder than you expect, you'll see. But I'll support you. I want to be around to help out as much as possible. I don't know how much I'll be able to though, with paying the bills in a one paycheck house." Ezra and Aria felt a lot better now that Byron knew, but Aria felt bad for having to make Ezra and Byron worry about A.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Thank you for all of the reviews! The positive remarks encourage me to write! **CORRECTION: **I meant for Ezra's last day teaching to be the following Thursday, I will bring it up again when it happens, but just wanted to clarify for now.

When All Else Fails

A few days later Aria had her first doctor's appointment. It was at four, so both her and Ezra could make it. She really hoped that no one would see them together; it could ruin their relationship. They agreed to drive separately and meet there, to eliminate the chances of them being caught. Ezra waited in the car until Aria texted him saying she was called back and what room to meet her in.

"Will the father be joining us today?" The nurse asked Aria. They had chosen a doctor's office a little far away, hoping that no one would no who they were. They didn't.

"Yeah, he should be here soon." There was a knock at the door.

"That should be him right now actually." Aria laughed as the nurse opened the door to reveal Ezra.

"Okay, Aria, let's talk about your health history. First off, what's your birthday?"

"April 1st, 1995."

"Any recent surgeries?"

"Yes, I had reconstructive shoulder surgery about a month ago. Other than that, no."

"Okay, last time you were sexually active?"

"Um yesterday." Aria blushed, embarrassed. The nurse and Ezra laughed

"How many sexual partners have you had?"

"One." Aria and Ezra's gazes met and they both smiled.

"Last one, any medical conditions that we should know about?"

"Yeah, I guess. At the time of conception, I had, well I have an eating disorder. It's gotten a lot better though."

"Alright, why don't you change into this and the doctor will be in to see you shortly!" Aria changed into the gown and sat up on the table while her and Ezra waited nervously. Her doctor walked in a few minutes later.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Bernstein, you must be Aria! And you are the father?" She moved to shake Ezra's hand.

"Yes, Ezra." He was careful not to give his last name just incase.

"Nice to meet you! So is this the first child for both of you?"

"Yes, it is." Aria grabbed Ezra's hand while she answered for them.

"Alright, well let's get started, first we'll do a visual and physical exam, and then we'll do an ultrasound, is that okay?"

"Sounds good." Aria agreed and lifted up her gown. You couldn't even tell anything was in there. The doctor pressed on her stomach in various places and asked Aria where she felt pressure and what not.

"Everything looks good, let me go get the wand. The doctor stepped out for a minute and returned quickly with materials in arm. Aria laid back down on the table and the nurse put the warmed jelly-like substance on her stomach. She stuck the wand on her stomach and soon enough the room was filled with repeated thuds.

"And that is your baby's heartbeat. Right now, he or she is just centimeters big. I would say your estimated due date is November 27th, now do you two plan on keeping the baby? I only ask because you do have options. If you were considering abortion, you would need to do that within the next month."

"Oh, no, we aren't considering that. We're keeping the baby." Ezra quickly answered.

"Good to hear. Okay, so I will need to see you back in a month and you can schedule that with Michelle at the front desk." The doctor shook both of their hands and left the couple, allowing Aria to get dressed. They walked out separately and then met up at the apartment. Aria got in the shower when she got home because she felt that she still had the jelly remnants on her stomach. Ezra made dinner when she was in the shower so it would be ready when she got out of the shower. Aria got dressed again and checked her phone before she went out in the kitchen. She had three texts:

_From: Spencer Hastings_

_Hey, how'd the appointment go?_

_From: Mom_

_Let us know how the appointment went when you get back!_

_From: Blocked I.D._

_Get rid of the baby before I have to do it for you bitch_

_-A_

Aria swallowed hard knowing that A almost always followed through with her promises. Her mind was racing. She knew that A wouldn't hurt her, would she? It was impossible to tell. If she killed Aria, then she would have no one to torture, so she couldn't physically hurt her, Aria was almost positive, she was just trying to scare her, stress her out. That had to be it! A was trying to stress her out so she could possibly lose the baby! Aria decided to not even worry about it because this was A's plan. The couple ate casserole at the table and got into bed soon after, both were exhausted, but excited for the day ahead of them.

Aria stirred in bed around 3, not feeling so well. She got up to get a glass of water, but as soon as she stood up, a wave of nausea rushed over her. She ran into the bathroom and began emptying the contents of dinner into the toilet. Aria could hear Ezra moving around in bed, but she didn't think he heard her. She didn't want to wake him, but soon enough, he was out of bed and at her side. He went to get her a glass of water while Aria brushed her teeth. He returned minutes later and wrapped his arms around her and started laughing.

"What? Aria asked at his peculiar laughing.

"Happy 18th birthday!" Ezra said sarcastically, laughing at the irony that the first part of her birthday had been throwing up.

"Gee thanks." Aria smiled and rolled back into bed. Aria awoke again when her alarm went off at 6:30. She rolled over to snuggle into Ezra's side, but she was met with cool sheets instead. She lifted her body up and rubbed her eyes to see where Ezra was. She couldn't see him, but she heard him singing in the kitchen. That was something she didn't hear everyday. She heard his footsteps coming towards the bedroom. He entered with a plate of pancakes, eggs and bacon with a glass of orange juice.

"Happy birthday baby!" Ezra kissed Aria and then set the plate down on the nightstand next to her. Aria thanked him for her breakfast and ate it before getting in the shower.

"Hey, I have a doctor's appointment in the city today at 4, so I'm leaving school early, around one. I'll try my hardest to be back for your birthday dinner." Ezra felt bad about himself for maybe missing Aria's birthday dinner.

"That's okay, don't rush. We can wait for you, just call me before you leave the appointment. I'm just going over to my dad's after school anyway, he wanted to see me for some reason, something about father daughter bonding? Who knows?" Aria pondered her dad's request. All of her friends were coming over for dinner with her family, so she figured she would help her dad set up and make dinner. Aria left for school and met the girls while walking into school. They walked to her locker like every morning and Aria spun her combination into her lock. It popped open and there was a note inside with her favorite candy and a note attached to the gummy bears.

_Aria, _

_This is just the first of many surprises today!_

_Love,_

_E_

Aria smiled at the gesture from Ezra, She walked to first period eating her gummy bears. Everybody wished her a happy birthday and Aria spent the whole morning and her early lunch smiling. She walked to fourth period and sat down in her seat. Ezra started class by saying that he would be leaving half way through the class to go to a doctor's appointment. There was a knock on the classroom door and the class started talking while Ezra went to get the door. A messenger walked in carrying a huge bouquet of white roses.

"Which one of you is Aria?" The messenger asked. Aria shyly raised her hand as everyone stared at her. The messenger placed them on her desk and left and Aria read the note that was attached to the bouquet.

_Aria,_

_I promise you, I will make this the best birthday you've ever had._

_Love, _

_E_

"Who's E?" One of Aria's good friends in the class asked.

"Oh, he's just a friend, from Iceland, I guess he ordered these online and had them delivered." Aria made up some excuse off the top of her head.

Ezra left class soon after, but not before catching Aria's eye and winking at her. Aria spent the rest of the school day enjoying other small surprises from Ezra and she made her way to her dad's house. They watched her favorite movie together, Finding Nemo. It was their tradition. He gave her her present before everyone else arrived. It was a bunch of socks and onesies, including one that said "Grandpa's my favorite."

"I know it's little early, but I just thought that you'll use them sometime." Byron said as Aria's eyes welled with tears.

"Dad, it's perfect. Thank you." Aria hugged her dad and wiped her eyes. She then helped her dad make dinner for eight people. Around 7 everybody started showing up and Ezra wasn't late, he arrived just on time. Aria received her presents from her mom and friends, which was a shopping trip from her friends and a pair of really nice earrings Aria had wanted for forever from her mom. The group ate their dinner with light friendly conversation. Aria and Ezra left around the same time, but in their separate cars. They arrived at the apartment at the same time and Ezra led them upstairs. Aria figured she would get her present soon, but she didn't expect anything big. Ezra unlocked the door and pushed it open. Aria walked in the door, not paying attention to what was in front of her, but to the conversation she was having with her boyfriend.

"And then Spencer said that she di-" Aria stopped in her tracks.

"Oh my god." That was the only thing that came to Aria's mind to say. She looked around their apartment and saw a hundred candles lit around their apartment. There were rose petals all around the floor.

"Ezra, this is…" Aria trailed off, at a loss for words.

"Happy birthday Aria. I love you." Ezra kissed her passionately. He shut the door and walked her inside.

"Aria, I love you more than anything. You have taught me so much about life and love that I never expected to learn. You are the reason I get up in the morning, and the reason I go to bed at night. I want this to last forever. You have made me the happiest man in the world because you are carrying my child. And I know that this may seem rushed, but it's not. This have never felt wrong to me, it's always been right. I want to marry you Aria, and it doesn't have to be right now, it can be years from now or tomorrow. Whatever you want Aria, I just want to be yours forever." Ezra was down on one knee and Aria was crying.

"I hope those are happy tears." Ezra said nervously when it took Aria a few moments to answer.

"I'm sorry, I'm just hormonal. Of course I'll marry you!" Aria cried as Ezra slid the most beautiful ring Aria had ever seen on her finger. Ezra popped up from his position on one knee and kissed Aria. He grabbed her around the waist and picked her up to his height. The kissed turned deeper, as did the rest of their night.


	14. Chapter 14

When All Else Fails

Aria awoke the next morning the happiest she has been in a while. Today was Ezra's last day teaching at Rosewood, so Aria was excited for two reasons. The first being because she could now go public with her relationship with Ezra, of course, and the second being because they were having a party in English class, which meant there would be a lot of good food. Before the couple left their apartment, Aria stopped Ezra at the door.

"You ready for your last day Mr. Fitz?"

"I do believe I am Ms. Montgomery." Aria's face crinkled up.

"I don't like when you call me that." She giggled.

"Alright, how does Mrs. Fitz sound to you?" Aria smiled from ear to ear. She looked down at the ring that had been placed on her ring finger last night. She contemplated moving it, as not to spark any questions, but she knew that her friends already knew because they helped Ezra set up, and no one else at school would even question it because her being engaged to anyone was out of the realm of possibility, or so they thought. She left it on her left hand and let it sparkle in the light. Aria looked especially pretty today, wearing a dress that was coral and turquoise with sandals. She looked beautiful to Ezra, even though she did everyday. Aria left the house with an apple in her hand at least, Ezra made sure, and then they were off to school for the day.

"So Mrs. Fitz, how does it feel to be engaged to the hot teacher?" Spencer teased as they met Aria on her way into school. Aria hushed them but then smiled because she was undeniably happy.

"How did you guys not tell me! I had no idea!"

"Who wants a non-surprising proposal? I mean come on Aria." Hanna rolled her eyes, knowing she would have been bummed if they ruined the surprise.

"Very true!" Aria said before the group split ways for their first class. Aria was bubbly today and everyone noticed. She had realized that the baby needed to be healthy, and that was the most important thing, so she was eating more. She had eaten a salad at lunch, with string cheese, a peach, and a yogurt. The girls were so proud of her, for how she has changed so much in the past few months. Aria went to English class and prepared for their party. She had made brownies to bring in. She placed them on the table and sat in her seat. Ezra stood up from his desk while the rest of the students filed in.

"Alright class, before I let you dive in, I have some parting words for you. It took me a while before I could think of what to say to you guys because you all mean so much to me. You have made my first year teaching so special, and I will never forget you guys. So here it goes: "I didn't expect to connect with you the way that I have," he tells the class.

"I'm not going to forget you. I will remember your voices, your questions and your faces. I cherish the time I've spent here, and I'm more grateful than I even know how to say. … There's a quote by Joseph Campbell that goes: 'You must give up a life you'd planned in order to have the life that's waiting for you.' I thought I knew what that meant, but I didn't… until I met you." Ezra looked around the class as not to seem like he was speaking to anyone in particular, but he was. He was talking to Aria. He never planned on having any of this; a secret romance with his student, a baby on the way, engaged at this age to someone so young, but he wouldn't have it any other way.

"Now, go eat!" He ended on a happier note. The kids dove into the food and Aria was last in line. She got two brownies and a snickerdoodle cookie that someone brought in.

"Woah there Aria, you might want to put one of those back. Better watch your figure if you want me to ask you to prom." A jock teased Aria, obviously with no intent of hurting her because he had no idea about her condition, but he struck a nerve. Aria froze and looked down at her plate.

"Yeah, you're right." Aria put her plate down and laughed it off, trying to convince everyone that she wasn't affected by the comment. She engaged in casual conversation until a few minutes later she asked Ezra to sign her a pass to the bathroom. He did so, thinking nothing of it while he was talking to other students. Aria went to the familiar bathroom near the auditorium that almost no one visited, she checked first though, just to be sure. She pulled her hair from her face and tied it back in a ponytail. She crouched in front of the toilet and proceeded to tickle to back of her throat until she started gagging. That was the hardest part. Soon after, Aria wiped her mouth, put a piece of gum in her mouth and walked back to class. She instantly felt guilty and debated over whether to tell Ezra or not. She figured he would be pretty upset because that was definitely not healthy for the baby, so she decided against telling him; one time wouldn't hurt, right? Soon the bell rang, signaling the end of class.

"Well guys, it has truly been a pleasure getting to know each of you. Good luck in whatever you decide to pursue in the future." Ezra ended as students began to file out, with hugs and hand shakes. Aria hurried out the classroom before Ezra had time to question her. To rest of the day went fine and the couple met at home. Aria had been contemplating what their first public outing should be together. She didn't want anything too obvious with a lot of people, maybe just getting dinner or something.

"What are you in the mood for tonight?" Ezra asked as Aria sat down on the couch.

"Chinese, of course!" Aria laughed, grabbing the phone and placed their order.

"They said it will be ready in fifteen minutes, do you want me to go with you?" Aria offered, figuring that this would be the perfect opportunity to get out. Ezra nodded and they head out of his apartment together for the first time. Aria hummed in the car as Ezra tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. Their song came on, Happiness by The Fray.

"B-26." Aria said grabbing Ezra's free hand and holding it in hers. He turned to her and couldn't help but look at her beautiful eyes. Ezra saw the light turn red and he knew he would have to slam on the brakes because he was too close to the intersection. He pressed on his brake pedal, but it didn't work. He pressed down with all his might, but Aria didn't even have time to scream before Ezra's silver Nissan Ultima ran a red light and was slammed into by a car coming the opposite way on Aria's side. She was conscious at first, but not able to talk. Her first thought was the baby. Ezra was conscious, but bleeding a little as he heard someone call 911.

"Aria, are you okay?" Ezra shouted, his ears ringing.

"I think so, yeah, but I'm not sure about the baby." Aria seemed to be stuck in the car. Ezra stumbled out, visibly injured with scrapes and cuts all over his body. He told the people that had gathered around the car to help Aria and try to get her out. They tried, but the ambulance arrived and they managed to extract Aria from the car. They put her in the ambulance and Ezra climbed in the back with her.

"Baby, I'm so sorry, I tried to stop, but I guess it was too late! I'm so sorry." Ezra began to cry as Aria faded in and out of consciousness.

"Please stay awake Aria, please!" Aria kept fluttering her eyes, but she finally responded to Ezra.

"It's okay, I love you." Aria mumbled before going unconscious. Ezra was obviously sobbing now and they soon arrived at the hospital. Ezra and Aria were split up so Ezra could receive stitches and so Aria could get the proper care. Ezra was getting 12 stitches in his forehead when Ella and Byron ran through the door to his room.

"Ella! Byron! I don't know how it happened! I tried to slam the brakes, but it was like they didn't even work! I feel awful! Is she okay? Have you heard anything?" Ezra quickly asked.

"Ezra, slow down. It's okay, we aren't mad, Aria's awake now, and the doctor said she will be fine; we just came in here to check on you." Ella said slowly in a calm voice.

"No, don't worry about me, I'm fine, just a couple stitches. Go be with Aria, please let her know that I will be in as soon as I can. Have you heard about the baby?"

"Not yet, they're doing to scan right now." Byron informed him.

"Okay, I'll be in there as soon as I'm done. Tell her I'm so sorry." Ezra repeated as her parents left the room. The doctor finished his stitches and soon he was in Aria's room.

"Baby, I'm so so so sorry. Are you okay? What about the baby?" Aria laughed a little and smiled.

"Ezra, it's okay, I'm okay, the baby is fine. Everything is good! They're releasing me right now." Aria said, hoping to calm Ezra's anxiety.

"Mr. Fitz, may I talk to you for a minute?" A police officer entered the room and Ezra nodded and followed him outside.

"Mr. Fitz, we know you weren't drinking at the time of the accident because of your blood test, but what happened out there?"

"I don't even know, it was my fault though, not the other person. I saw the light turn red and I was already about to cross the intersection so I tried to slam on my brakes, but they either didn't work, or I was so panicked that I missed the brake or something! Is the other driver okay?"

"Yes, luckily everyone will be fine, thank you." The police officer left Ezra to go back to Aria, but she was already being discharged. Her parents took them back to the apartment after driving though McDonalds quickly so they could have something to eat. Ezra helped Aria up to the apartment and they were both sore from the accident and were no longer hungry, so they thought that rest would be the best option for them. They both fell asleep without having to wait long.

In the middle of the night, Aria felt the sheets were damp. She suddenly feared the worst, that she had wet the bed. She would be mortified if she did that, but at least she had an excuse, being pregnant made her have to go all the time. She lifted the sheets off her body and was met with a sight that was worse than having wet the bed.

"Ezra." Aria deadpanned as she shook him awake.

"Ezra, I'm bleeding. I'm bleeding a lot." Aria said, surprisingly relatively calm. Ezra rolled over, not hearing her, but feeling her wake him up.

"What?" Ezra was soon met with his answer as he looked down and saw his sheets practically soaked through with blood. He sprung up and put his jeans on and a sweatshirt and got Aria new pajama pants and put her shoes on and he carried her out to the car. He sped off towards the hospital again. Their car ride was silent, not even the radio was playing. He grabbed a wheel chair from the front of the emergency entrance and he quickly put Aria in it and explained to a doctor that she needed to be seen right away as he explained what had happened earlier. He ran out to park his car as fast as he could and returned back. He asked the receptionist what room she was in. He quickly walked back to the room. The room was empty except for little Aria on the bed in front of him.

"Hey, what happened? Did they say anything?"

"No, the doctor said he wanted to run some tests and that he would be back soon, but he warned me and said that it doesn't look good." Aria had tears falling from her eyes, but she didn't sound like she was crying. She already knew what was going on and she had a feeling Ezra did also.

"Do you want me to call anybody? Your parents, your friends?" Ezra offered.

"No, I don't want to wake anybody up and worry them. Let's just wait until we know for sure." Ezra grabbed her hand and started sobbing. This was all his fault. He was driving when they had their accident. That has to be what caused this.

"Aria, I am so incredibly sorry. You're never going to be able to forgive me for this." Ezra felt so ashamed as he put his head in his hands.

"Ez, we don't even know anything for sure yet. And it was not your fault, it could have happened to anyone. Don't think like that." Aria said wiping his tears away. She was amazing, she was the one going through all of these traumatizing events and yet she was comforting him. She was incredibly strong. The doctor returned and did an ultrasound. He was quiet the entire time and so were Aria and Ezra.

"Ms. Montgomery, I'm so sorry to tell you that my fears have become reality. We'll need to do a dilation and curettage as soon as possible for your safety, but I will give you guys a few minutes alone. Again, I am so sorry. These things happen for no reason a lot of the time, from stress or just because the baby wasn't properly attached to the uterus in the first place. It is not preventable, so you could not have done anything. I'm so sorry." The doctor left the couple alone in the room in silence. Ezra was crying, but Aria wasn't.

"Ezra, it's okay. Everything will be fine, I promise. He said it couldn't have been prevented. At least we are both okay, listen to me baby, I'm fine. You are fine. We can try again when we're married. I promise you, this baby is in a better place, and she'll look over us, keeping you and me safe." Aria tried to calm her and Ezra tried to seize his tears for Aria's sake. He knew she was going through this too, but she was just holding it together better than he was. The doctor came back in and prepared Aria for the minor surgery that would only take a total of probably 20 minutes. She would be awake, but she would be numbed so she wouldn't be able to feel anything. Ezra kissed her forehead before they wheeled her out of the room. He looked at his phone; it read 4:17. He went to get a cup of coffee. Ezra had calmed down and sat in the waiting room, not able to sit in that room by himself. He drank his coffee sitting by himself in the waiting room. Aria's doctor came to get him about 40 minutes later, saying that Aria was resting, but she was fine. He went into the room, but left the lights off. She was awake, but neither of them talked. They both felt the palpable tension in the air as both of their hearts broke. It was too early, they shouldn't have told anyone, then they wouldn't have to go through the pain of telling everyone what had happened.

"Ezra?" Aria's small voice broke the silence.

"Yeah?"

"Come lay with me." Ezra held her until he could feel she was asleep. He was still awake at six and he knew that he should start calling people. He left Aria sleeping in the room. He dialed Ella and Byron's number, taking a deep breath before hitting the call button.

"Ezra? What's wrong? It's six in the morning, we just woke up." Byron answered the phone.

"Um I'm going to need you to let Shane know that I can't come in today. Aria woke up in the middle of the night bleeding, a lot. Byron, she lost the baby." Byron could tell that Ezra was crying on the other end. Byron gasped and Ezra heard Ella in the background. He had a thought that Byron and Ella were getting back together because she had recently been spending a lot of time at his house. But now was no time to think about that.

"Ezra, oh my god, is she okay?"

"Yeah, she's resting now, she had a d&c around 4 this morning and now we're just waiting to be discharged." Ezra sniffled.

"Should we come down there?"

"No, I think we'll be leaving soon, but I'll keep you updated." Ezra painfully hung up the phone. He figured he only needed to call one of the girls. He thought for a minute which one would be easier to tell. He thought Emily, but then he realized that he didn't know her as well as the other two girls, so he finally decided on Hanna. The phone rang a couple of times before a voice grumbled on the other end.

"Hello?" Hanna seemed to have still been sleeping.

"Hey Hanna, it's um Ezra. I just wanted to let you know that I had to bring Aria to the hospital last night because she woke up around 3 bleeding really bad." Ezra struggled to get out.

"Wait, what? Is she okay? Is the baby okay?" He had Hanna's full attention now.

"Aria will be fine, but she lost the baby. She had a d&c around 4 and now she's resting. The doctor said there was no way to prevent it, it just happens randomly sometimes." Ezra could hear Hanna stifle a few sobs, which only made him more upset.

"We'll be by your apartment later." Ezra said that was fine and he hung up the phone. He walked back into Aria's room to see that she was still sleeping. The doctor had been in while Ezra was on the phone and he said that she could leave whenever she woke up. Ezra figured that Aria would rather sleep in her own bed than at the hospital so he decided to wake her.

"Hey baby, the doctor said that you can go home when you wake up." Ezra whispered in her ear and tried to wipe his eyes free from any tears he had. Aria stirred and woke up. She was aware of what had happened last night and she went to the bathroom to change into the clothes Ezra had brought with him hurriedly before they left for the hospital. She emerged five minutes later dressed and ready to go. The car ride was again silent on the way home. They unlocked the apartment and Aria went to go straight into bed, but the sheets were still a mess since they had left in such a hurry. Ezra stripped the sheets and put clean ones on and threw the dirty ones in his washer. Aria quickly went to sleep, but Ezra found himself restless. The girls arrived around 8 and each of them hugged him when they saw the stressed look on his face and the sadness in his eyes.

"How's she doing?" Emily asked, she had brought breakfast for them, but figured that Aria wouldn't eat it.

"As well as expected I guess. She's still sleeping." Ezra sat down and ate the pancakes Emily had brought over for them.

"She was really calm actually, I was a mess, but she seemed to know when she woke up that it wasn't going to end well. It was almost like she was prepared for something bad to happen. She's so strong and I'm over here a mess, but I know I need to be strong for her." Ezra vented to the girls who sat with understanding looks on their faces.

"I'm going to go check on her." Ezra excused himself from the group and walked back into the bedroom. He shut the door behind him when he realized Aria was awake.

"Hey, you're awake." Ezra greeted her.

"Yeah, I just wasn't ready to go out and face them yet. I was trying to mentally prepare myself." Aria took a breath.

"Don't worry, take your time, they'll be here when you're ready." Ezra kissed her on the forehead and walked back out. Aria checked her phone out of instinct and she had two messages. She opened the first one

_From: Mom_

_Let us know when you're awake sweetie, we want to come see you. Love you_

She opened the other one.

_From: Blocked I.D._

_I told you bad things happen when you don't listen to me. _

_-A_

Aria burst into tears reading the last one. A was the reason that she no longer had a baby. It was all her fault. Aria didn't think she could ever come back form this.


	15. Chapter 15

When All Else Fails

The day went by slowly for both Aria and Ezra. They barely talked; neither of them knew what to say. Aria stayed in bed for most of the day; she had a couple of visitors like her parents and her friends. She didn't feel like talking to anyone though, so they didn't stay around for a long time.

"Are you hungry? Can I get you anything?" Ezra poked his head in the bedroom door; he had been giving her the space she needed to recover.

"No, I'm okay."

"Well I made chicken alfredo, I really think you should eat Aria."

"What's the point anymore?" Aria turned in bed so she wasn't facing him.

"What's the point? The point is that yes, we lost a baby. But I refuse to lose you too. I'm just trying to help Aria, please eat. You were doing so well before."

"Yeah before I had a miscarriage." Aria's voice was like ice; it cut right through him.

"You don't think I know that? I sat in that waiting room praying to God that I wouldn't lose you! I called your family and your friends to tell them! I have to deal with the fact that this is my fault. It isn't a coincidence that the day that I get us in a car accident that you lose the baby. What happened to everything was going to be okay? And we still have each other?" Ezra said with a stern voice.

"You're right, it is your fault." Aria got out of bed and started packing some things into a duffle bag. That broke Ezra's heart.

"Where are you going?" Ezra followed, trying to stop her.

"My parents." Aria answered before running out in tears. At least Ezra knew she would be safe at her parent's house. Ezra sat down and took a deep breath. That's when he saw Aria's ring. She must have put it on the table on her way out. Ezra felt hot tears pour from his eyes, but he couldn't feel anything. It seemed as if he was numb. Without Aria, none of this made sense. He was infuriated with himself. How could he not have seen that car? If he had just managed to hit the brakes in time, then he would be sitting here with Aria right now, probably eating Chinese, with a baby on the way. But he wasn't, instead he was sitting alone on his couch, no baby on the way, and the chicken alfredo was getting cold.

Meanwhile

"Aria, hi hon, what're you doing here?" Ella asked as she opened the door.

"Can I stay here for a few nights? Things at home aren't all that great right now," Aria gave little explanation before heading up to her room, not waiting for Ella's answer. Ella decided to leave her be, since she was probably having a tough time handling this.

"Aria's here." Ella announced to Byron who was in the kitchen.

"What do you mean? Like she's here for tonight or here for good?"

"I don't know, she just said that things weren't good at home. I feel awful for the two of them. Dealing with this, and poor Ezra, he's at home all by himself." Byron nodded and continued to make dinner. Ella went to get her children for dinner.

"Mike! It's time for dinner! Aria, you too!" Ella yelled from the bottom of the stairs. Mike emerged, but Aria didn't. Ella sighed and walked up the stairs.

"Aria, hey, dinner's ready." Ella stuck her head in Aria's door.

"I ate at home, thanks though." Aria didn't even turn to face her. She just wanted to be alone. Ella left Aria alone in the dark and went down to dinner.

"Aria will not be joining us for dinner." Ella said as the three of them sat down at the table.

"How long is she going to be here?" Mike asked, taking a bite of his salmon.

"We don't know honey, but she's devastated, she needs time to process." Mike nodded, he felt genuinely bad for Aria, but he thought that her and Ezra needed to get through this together.

Ella didn't bother waking Aria for school the next day, since it was Friday, she figured Aria could just go back on Monday. Ella walked into school and saw Ezra, carrying the last of his things out of his classroom before school started.

"Ezra!" Ella called from a ways down the hallway. Ezra turned around at the sound of his name.

"Hey Ella." Ezra said, his voice emotionless. His eyes were red and swollen from crying and it looked like he hadn't showered.

"How are you?"

"I'm how you'd expect me to be, I guess. Probably the same as Aria. How is she?"

"She's okay, she hasn't eaten yet though. She's been holed up in her room since she got there, we've barely seen her. Give her time, she'll come home to you, I know she will. I think she can't process what has happened around you because you just remind her of what happened."

"Ella, before she left she told me that this was my fault. That I'm the reason she lost the baby. She even took off her ring. I can't help but think that she's right." Ezra admitted to his colleague.

"Oh, Ezra, I'm sure she was just upset, she didn't mean it. I'll try and talk to her. She'll come home soon." Ella told him reassuringly. Ezra nodded and walked out to his car. The Dean of Hollis had totally understood his situation and had given him Friday off; he would start Monday. Ezra arrived back at the apartment and looked around. He didn't know what to do with himself. He knew that if he just sat there, that all he would think about was the baby. He knew that when Aria came back that she would need distractions too. He grabbed a cardboard box that he had used to bring his things from his classroom. He emptied it and started collecting things that they had accumulated for the baby. There wasn't much yet, but little things, like Aria's present from her dad, and Aria had seen a few stuffed animals that she thought the baby needed. When he had collected all of the items he folded the flaps on the box and closed it. He tucked it away into his closet, almost buried under other things. He felt relieved that he no longer had to look at those things; it was too soon.

Days went by and Ezra still hadn't heard from Aria. He was getting impatient and wondered if he should reach out to her. He texted her quickly:

_Aria, I miss you. I'm sorry, please come home._

Aria read the text and threw her phone down on the bed. She knew she needed to go home sometime, but she couldn't yet. She felt guilty for what she said to Ezra and didn't know how to apologize. Her mother made her come down for Sunday dinner; they always spent that meal together. The four of them sat around the table in awkward silence.

"So Aria, when are you going back home?" Mike asked innocently.

"Mike." Byron warned.

"Mike, I'll go home when I feel like it, okay?" Aria answered obviously annoyed.

"Yeah and that will be in two months." Mike rolled his eyes at how immature she was being.

"Mike, I just lost a baby, okay? God just back off." Aria said matter-of-factly.

"You know what Aria, you aren't the only one that lost a baby. Ezra did too and you left him to handle this all on his own! That's not very fair, don't you think? You get to escape it, but he has to be surrounded by it 24/7. Grow up and go get through this with your fiancé." Mike stormed out of the room, angry at Aria. Aria also went up to her room.

"So much for family dinner." Byron told Ella as the two sat stunned with what just happened. Surprisingly, Aria came back downstairs in five minutes, duffle bag in hand.

"I'm going home, thanks for letting me stay." Aria hugged her parents.

"Of course sweetie, you're always welcome." Byron told her as he placed a kiss on her head. Aria headed out the door and started her car. She arrived at the apartment soon after. She grabbed her keys from her bag and started to unlock the door, nervous of the conversation that sat behind the door.

"Aria!" Ezra jumped up off the couch which he had been sleeping on since she left. He didn't feel right sleeping in bed without her.

"Hey." She said slightly embarrassed. He hugged her tightly.

"I'm so glad you're home."

"It's good to be back home. Listen, I'm sorry about the way that I left things the other day. I didn't mean the things I said, I just felt like I was being smothered and mocked by the things in the apartment. I needed to breath for a few days."

"It's okay, I understand." Ezra kept holding her, not wanting to let go.

"No, it's not okay. I told you that this was your fault, and I took my ring off! That's not okay, it's almost unforgiveable."

"Aria, I forgive you, I know you didn't mean any of it. And if you'll still have me, I'd like to be your fiancée again." Ezra said as he grabbed her ring where she left it. Aria nodded as he put it back on her finger.

"God, how can you be so amazing? I keep screwing up, but every time, you're there to help me. You don't get upset with me, you're so patient with me. How do you do it?"

"Well, you're a girl worth fighting for." Ezra said as he closed his eyes, thankful that she was home.

"I love you so much." Aria said as she went back to the bedroom to put her stuff back.

"I love you too." The couple got into bed together and Ezra held her for the first time in days.


	16. Chapter 16

When All Else Fails

The last part of the school year went by fast for Aria, she was distracted with the tons of school work she had to catch up with since she was out of school a few days after her miscarriage and then she missed another day for a follow up appointment from her shoulder surgery. She barely slid under the maximum amount of absent days for seniors. Aria found some things difficult with all her work, like cooking every night, and working with Laurel; so Ezra tried to help out with the cooking and cleaning to make Aria's life easier. Before Aria realized, graduation was tonight. She already had her white dress to wear under her gown, and she had nude wedges she would wear with her outfit. She awoke with a happy feeling that she hadn't felt in a few months. She knew that tonight meant a lot for her relationship with Ezra, they could finally be an actual couple, not only seen together, but they could hold hands and kiss in public without getting strange looks. She got out of bed and Ezra was making breakfast, waffles. They were her favorite, and he knew that.

"Morning baby, are you excited for tonight?" Aria smiled pouring herself a cup of coffee.

"Very, I'm so ready to be done with school, even if it's only for a few months." Aria would be going to Hollis in the fall, where Ezra would be teaching. Since it was college, there relationship would be fine, Aria just could not be in his class, which was fine with the both of them. At least they would see each other on campus. Ezra smiled and put a blueberry waffle on a plate in front of her. They ate together before Aria had to shower and then leave.

She promised the girls that she would get ready with them, which included hours of preparation. First, they were getting their nails done. She met the girls at Emily's at eleven. She was the second to last one there, before Hanna. Hanna was always late though, so Aria was considered on time, even though she really was late. Once Hanna arrived at 11:30, the girls went to the salon. All of the girls got French manicures and Aria's toes' were done a deep red, Hanna's were a dull orange color, Emily's were bright pink, while Spencer's toes were indigo. By the time they were finished, it was 2:30 and they grabbed a late lunch. They knew that it would be maybe 10 at night before they got to eat again, so they ate plenty. They went back to Emily's around four to do their hair and makeup. They all left their hair down, but Aria and Emily curled theirs, while Spencer and Hanna straightened their hair. They had to be at the school at six, so they said goodbye to Emily's parents and drove together to the school that they would be in for the last time as students.

All of the girls were wearing white caps and gowns, while the boys all wore burgundy colored gowns and caps. Graduation started at 7, so until 7, all of the students took pictures and did last minute signing of yearbooks. Soon enough, it was 7 and the students were led out to the football field, where graduation would take place. Aria scanned the audience and saw Ezra sitting with her parents. They were all sitting near Spencer, Emily, and Hanna's parents. The commencement music began to play as the students marched in to their seats on the field. After the valedictorian speech, delivered by Spencer, finished, Principal Hackett started calling names, with Vice President Tamborelli handing out diplomas.

"Sean Ackerd…Jessica Andrews…Mario Amerite…Thomas Austin….Isabelle Baker…" Hackett said, beginning the ceremony.

"Andrew Campbell…Toby Cavanaugh…Ben Coogan…"

"Emily Fields…Amanda Fletcher….Ian Franklin…James Gates…Lucas Gottesman…Spencer Hastings…"

"Noel Kahn…Penelope Kenter…Rita Kissinger…Jack Letteres… Seth Lipwitz…Randy Lomethrop…Hanna Marin…Jenna Marshall…Paige McCullers…Aria Montgomery…"

"Danielle Pentretti…Jared Pistorati….Fred Planther…Caleb Rivers… Holden Strauss."

"And last but not least…Mona Vanderwaal." Finally, everyone cheered, once the cheering quieted down, Principal Hackett spoke again.

"And, the class of 2014 would like to honor two students graduating in absentee, Alison DiLaurentis and Maya St. Germaine." All of the students stood up and clapped for the two fallen students.

"And I proudly announce to you the class of 2014!" The students threw their caps in the air and everyone cheered for a final time. Graduation was over, and Aria felt sad for some reason. She was afraid that for some reason, that she would drift apart from her friends. She searched the throngs of people for her family and Ezra. She was moving past familiar faces and she was stopped to take numerous pictures with the people that had filled the past four years of her life. She finally spotted her tall fiancé above the rest of the crowd. She started to run to him.

"Aria." Ezra grabbed her and pulled her into a kiss, much like the one in the school parking lot on his last day of teaching at Rosewood. A few students turned to look at their former teacher and their peer engaging in an intimate kiss. Some gaped, while others smiled, knowing that their theories were true. Aria pulled her ring out of her dress pocket and placed it on her ring finger, which shocked everyone. She didn't care though, she wanted everyone to know that she was engaged to the love of her life.

"Congratulations honey! We're so proud of you!" Byron hugged his daughter, as him and his wife approached their daughter.

"Let's celebrate! The girl's parent's and I already talked, and we're all going to meet at Melchotti's at 9, so we'll meet you there!" Ella announced after hugging her daughter and giving her flowers. Aria left with Ezra and they waited in the long line to leave the school.

"So who's coming to Melchotti's?" Aria asked her fiancé in the car.

"Oh geez, let me get the list out," Ezra joked, "Well us, your parents, Mike, Spencer, Veronica, Peter, Melissa, Toby, Hanna, Ashley, Tom, Isabelle, Kate, Caleb, Emily, Pam, Wayne, and Paige." Ezra said in one breath.

"Wow, that's a lot of people." Aria laughed as they puled out of the school. They drove to the restaurant, which took about ten minutes. Ezra parked once they got there and the two got out of the car and walked into the restaurant, finding that almost everyone was there already and seated in a private room.

"Finally, I'm starving and my mom said that we should wait for you to order, let's go!" Hanna ordered as everyone else laughed. The couple sat down at the long table, sitting near Aria's friends, but near the adults so Ezra could talk to the adults too. The large group ordered and knew it would be awhile before their orders came, since it was so big, so they decided to do presents. They started with Emily, she got a new laptop from her parents, and Paige got her a dragsuit, which was a joke between the two, since Emily would be swimming at Penn State in the fall. Emily got Paige an expensive wallet that Paige had been looking at for quite some time. Next, Hanna's mom gave her a spa day gift certificate and her dad and Isabelle gave her money for books for Hollis next year. Caleb gave her a really nice pair of earrings that he had saved up for five months to buy.

"Caleb, they're beautiful! I love them, thank you so much!" Hanna kissed him and got her gift to give to him.

"Plane tickets to Montecito to see my mom? Hanna, this is awesome! You finally get to meet my mom! She's going to love you!" Caleb was thrilled with his gift. Spencer was next, which everyone waiting for since they were going to be big gifts, they always were with the Hastings. Peter and Veronica got Spencer a condo near Penn, so whenever she needed a break from her roommate and really needed to study, she would have a place to have peace and quiet, and even sleep if she needed it. Melissa surprised her with a vacation to Mexico, just the two of them. Toby got Spencer a transit pass to Philly, where she could visit him anytime when she was at school and he was working. Spencer surprised Toby and the rest of her friends and their loved ones with a vacation to Hawaii. Everyone was still reveling from Spencer's announcement when Aria begun to get her gifts.

"Now Aria, we know it isn't much, but we got you this outlet converter!" Byron said with enthusiasm, which confused Aria. Did Hollis have different outlets than her apartment did? She thanked her parents, even though she still wasn't sure, but her parents thought it was a good gift, so she feigned enthusiasm. Now it was Ezra's turn.

"Ezra, you know no one expects you to give me a gift right?" Aria laughed when Ezra started to reach into his pocket.

"Yeah, seriously, don't show us up dude, you just gave her a ring a few months ago, that's a gift enough." Caleb said as everyone laughed. Ezra pulled a piece of paper out his pocket and handed it to Aria. Aria unraveled it, reading while doing so.

"These a plane tickets, to Paris! You didn't!" Aria gasped, getting very excited.

"That's not all either. After Paris, we're going to Moscow, and Italy, and Spain, and then we'll end our trip in our beloved London." Ezra had spent months planning this trip, knowing that London would be the best place to end because they both shared a love for London because of all of the literature they bonded over. Aria was in disbelief. Her parents' gift made sense now, since Europe had different outlets than America. Aria got up to hug Ezra and they spent a long while embracing. Ezra knew that this would be the trip that would heal Aria from the pain that she was still plagued with from losing their baby.

"Man, I want an older boyfriend." Emily joked as the couple broke apart and everyone laughed. Everyone sat down and finally they were served their dinner. They finished and headed home, before Aria left yet again to go finish her high school career the way that Ezra thought she would, out at a party with her friends, saying goodbye to everyone.


	17. Chapter 17

When All Else Fails

Aria was excited, tomorrow her and Ezra would be leaving for Paris! They would be gone a total of 3 weeks, so Aria tried to pack as much as she could, without over packing. Ezra still had to work today, so she was put in charge of packing. Aria sighed as she looked around; it looked like the apartment had exploded. She had packed all of her clothes except the ones that she was wearing to the airport tomorrow. Ezra had packed his clothes also, but Aria still had to pack their toiletries and other necessities. They had to leave their apartment at 3 in the morning to get to the airport by 4:30, with a flight at 6. She pulled out their last suitcase and got out her shampoo and conditioner. She grabbed her razor and toothbrush, along with Ezra's. She packed two muffins for her and Ezra's breakfast at the airport tomorrow, and two juices. She continued to grab random things that they would need when Ezra opened the door.

"Hey, how's the packing going?"

"Stressful, how was work?"

"Well, it was a little stressful, but it was nice because it was my last day." Ezra smiled.

"I was going to order a pizza, how's that sound?"

"Good." Ezra changed into his sweatpants and a t-shirt and ordered the pizza. The doorbell rang about fifteen minutes later, and Aria went to get the door.

"Oh, hey Ben." Aria said opening the door, revealing Emily's ex boyfriend.

"Oh hey, Aria, do you live here?" Ben asked, looking around.

"Um, yeah actually, I do." Ezra came out of their bedroom.

"Hey Ar, where's my wallet?" Ezra said from the kitchen.

"On the coffee table." Aria turned around before Ezra joined her at the door.

"Oh, hey Ben, I didn't know you worked at Pizza Kitchen." Ezra asked before digging through his wallet for money.

"Oh, yeah I do, Mr. Fitz. Are you going somewhere?" Ben asked, seeing their many packed bags in their apartment.

"Yeah, we're headed to Europe tomorrow for 3 weeks." Ezra said, tipping him.

"Oh, well uh, have fun you two." Ben said awkwardly before leaving the two.

"Well that was our first awkward encounter with one of your previous students and my friends." Aria said as the door closed and Ezra put the pizza on the counter. The pair headed to bed early so they could get up at 3. Three came along too early for the two of them, but Ezra drank a coffee and drove them to Baltimore Washington International airport. Aria didn't really sleep in the car; she wanted to keep Ezra company for the hour and a half drive. They didn't talk much, but they sat in a comfortable silence. They went through security easily because it wasn't crowded, due to the hour. They boarded the plane to Paris around 5:45 and they took off at 6. Ezra knew that Aria was scared of flying, but he eased her fear by talking to her about random things she loved. Aria soon nodded off to sleep and Ezra read To Kill A Mockingbird. Their thirteen hour flight was long, but worth it when they got off the plane in Paris. They looked around at the beauty that stood before them. They would be in Paris for five days, so they had to fit in the entire country in five days, which would be impossible. They would be in Paris for 2 days, Nice for a day, Aix-en-Province for a day, and finally, they would be in Normandy for a day. Ezra figured they should see the historic war site while they were in France, so that was the last place they planned to visit in France.

"So let's go to the hotel, check in and then look around!" Ezra exclaimed, ready to start their adventure. Aria eagerly followed as they walked to their hotel.

"Hello, I booked a room for two for two days." Ezra said to the woman at the front desk, who seemed to speak English. She nodded and checked the computer. She handed them the room key and they went to the elevator. They swiped their key card and entered the room.

"Oh my god, this is…" Aria was in too much shock to say anything else.

"Amazing." Ezra finished for her. Even though Ezra had seen pictures on the internet when he booked the hotel, he was shocked at the immense beauty that had encompassed them. The room was embellished with gold accents and their king sized bed was protruding with large fluffy pillows.

"God, can we just stay in the hotel room all of vacation? This room is unbelievable!" Aria laughed and jumped on the bed.

"Well we could if you really wanted to…" Ezra trailed off and Aria laughed, knowing that would never happen.

"No! No, no, no! Let's go already!" Aria was excited to see Paris, it was the city of love, lights and romance. Aria took Ezra's hand and they walked out of the hotel into the packed streets of Paris. It was eleven, Paris time and both were suffering from jet lag, but were too excited to see what lay ahead of them to notice.

"So what should we do first? Are you hungry?"

"No, not really, let's go to the Louvre!" They had decided to wait until nighttime to see the Eiffel Tower because so many people said it was so beautiful then. They walked to the Louvre and saw many historic art pieces that they only read about in books; the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, the Victory of Samothrace, and Odalisque. They were both in awe at what they saw, just knowing that things still existed from this time period had them both starstruck. By the time they left, it was around 3 and both were hungry. They came across a small outdoor café and decided to stop and eat.

"I can't read anything on this menu!" Ezra said and laughed. He ordered the only thing that he knew, café au lait, to drink. Aria ordered a lemonade. The waitress came back with their drinks and Ezra soon became worried about if she would understand him when he ordered.

"I'll have the uh-the chicken with mixed greens." Ezra tried to order, but struggled when he noticed that waitress could not understand him. Aria just laughed at him.

"Il aura le poulet avec les haricots verts. Et pour moi, je voudrais les escargots avec la pomme de terre. Merci." Aria spit off French like it was her first language, which surprised Ezra.

"Aria Montgomery, the man, the myth, the legend! I didn't know you could speak French like that." Ezra was impressed with her language skills, since his language skills only existed in English. The waitress came back with their food in about fifteen minutes and both Ezra and Aria were more than satisfied. They went to see Notre Dame and by the time they had finished, it was already 8 at night. They went to a fancy restaurant; Ezra was dressed in a suit, with a light blue shirt and a black tie and gray suit jacket and pants. Aria had a cream colored, lace, strapless dress on with a light peach colored cardigan over top. They ate dinner by candlelight and were finished by 10. It was the perfect time to visit the Eiffel Tower. They strolled through the town that had quieted down since it was getting late, comfortable in their outfits.

"Wow, Ezra, this is so beautiful.." Aria's breath was taken away. The Eiffel Tower was lit up to the nines, shining bright, contrasting against the dark starry sky.

"Wanna go up?" Aria nodded enthusiastically and followed her fiancé. The pair rode the elevator to the top and stepped out into the now-brisk air and both stopped in their tracks. They could see the entire city from up there. They went to the railing and looked out across the town they had become newly accustomed with.

"Ezra, this is the best thing you could've gotten me. I absolutely love this, this is amazing. I can't believe you did this for me. You are amazing, I love you so much." Aria leaned in to kiss Ezra. Ezra took out his camera and asked another tourist to take a picture of the two of them. Aria quickly sent the photo to her phone and then uploaded it to every social media cite she belonged to. She wanted to brag to her world about her fiancé and what an amazing man he was. She posted the picture along with an update on their trip.

_First Night in Paris and it's absolutely amazing! All thanks to this amazing man!_

They walked back to their hotel around 11, feeling like they've been up more than they had. They needed to sleep so they climbed into their larger than normal bed and were fast asleep.

They spent the whole next day doing other touristy things. They embraced the culture, eating authentic foods that they've never heard of and taking pictures of everything so they wouldn't forget a second of it. They walked around for two hours, looking at all of the amazing lights. Aria had never been to France before, so she was perplexed at all of the amazing romanticism that came with the city; she had never actually been out of the country other than to Iceland. She was amazed at what Ezra had given her, no one cared about Aria as much as he did. He would do anything for her and she was thankful. This was exactly what she needed after all of the tragic events that had happened to her and them this year. She couldn't wait to start her life at college and leave their past in the past.

"Hey Ez, let's go back to the hotel." Aria suggested, pulling on his sleeve.

"Alright, are you tired?"

"Not one bit." Aria let those words roll off her tongue, giving Ezra a seductive look. He knew what that meant.

"Are you sure?" Ezra asked before following her. They hadn't had sex since they lost the baby because it was a tough idea for both of them, but Ezra didn't want to push Aria. She was still hurting, she was the one who had gone through the procedure and actually carried the baby for the short amount of time.

"I am completely positive." Aria looked back and pushed herself up against him. She looked into his eyes and grabbed his hands. He leaned down and kissed her, then he followed her back to the hotel room.

The couple enjoyed France and were excited to go on to Spain. They had to buy a quick bite to eat at the airport before they took off though. Aria had a sandwich while Ezra decided to have Chinese food. They got on their plane and were only in the air for less than an hour. They arrived in Spain and it was late, around 8 at night already. They weren't able to do any sight seeing tonight since it was late, so they just headed to the hotel.

"So, do you want to get something for dinner, or just hang out here?" Aria asked Ezra, who had laid down on the bed when they got there.

"I actually don't feel that great, but if you're hungry, please go get something." Ezra said closing his eyes. Aria nodded, going to get something in the lobby to eat. She turned the lights off and quietly shut the door. She got some chips from the vending machine and a pink lemonade. She got a text message and at first she was a little nervous to open it. Once she saw the sender, her nerves went away.

From: Ezra Fitz

Can you pick me up some antacids or pepto bismol or something? Thanks

Aria went to the front desk to ask and they happily obliged. She took all of the things back to the room on the fourth floor. She swiped the key card and opened her door. She didn't see Ezra, so she shut the door behind her and went to investigate. She saw the light from the bathroom coming through the crack underneath the door, so that gave away Ezra's whereabouts. He came out about four minutes later, wiping his mouth.

"Here's the medicine I got for you." Aria handed it to him and he chugged it. Ezra took a deep breath.

"I think I have food poisoning, from the airport food." Ezra laid back on the bed.

"Aw babe, what can I do for you?" Aria ran her hand through his hair. Now it was her turn to take care of Ezra. He shook his head, but kept his eyes close. His head was pounding.

"Do want some water maybe?" Ezra nodded and sat up, she grabbed a water bottle from the mini fridge and brought it over to the bed for him. He drank it slowly.

"How about a shower? Or a bath or something?"

"That sounds good." Ezra got a shower and was ready for bed. He got sick a few more times though. He was sweating and shivering at the same time, but Aria wasn't sure what to do. She got a washcloth and put it on his forehead. He was burning up. He soon fell asleep and Aria watched TV while watching him to make sure he was okay.

Aria woke to the sound of Ezra puking, much like he had done in the past.

"Are you alright?" She rubbed his back while he heaved over the toilet. He nodded.

"Aria, you shouldn't have to see me like this." Ezra mumbled, laughing at himself with all the energy he had left.

"Ezra, you have seen me like this more times than I can count on both your and my hands. You're fine." Aria laughed at his insistence. She took care of Ezra the rest of the day, and neither of them saw the outside of Spain for three days until they were at the airport to go to Italy. They couldn't do anything but laugh at the situation.

Two weeks later, the couple was in the airport for what seemed like the millionth time the past few weeks. They were headed to Hawaii to meet Spencer, Toby, Emily, Paige, Hannah, and Caleb. They were basically on a one month vacation. It had been amazing, neither one of them wanted it to end. They were leaving Europe though, and both were sad to leave, but knew they would definitely be back. They had fallen in love with the continent. They had even made time to fly to Iceland, and Aria showed Ezra where she used to live and places that meant a lot to her in the year that she lived there.

The plane ride was longer than the ones that they had taken to fly from country to country, but it was worth it when they stepped off the plane onto the wonderful island of O'ahu. They took a vespa to the resort where their friends were waiting for them.

"Guys! How was Europe? Was it amazing?" Hanna gushed when she spotted her friends who had arrived the pervious day.

"It was so great! Absolutely amazing, I just want to move there, but I might want to move here after this leg of our trip. Geez, it's beautiful here!" Aria hugged her friends and they rushed to get their bathing suits on to go to the beach. The beach was sunny and the water was warm. Aria spent the first part of the day sleeping on the beach. All of this travel had made her very tired. The girls were all tanning and Caleb, Toby, and Ezra were throwing a football in the water. They walked up and all the girls were sleeping it seemed. The boys knew what they had to do. They picked up Spencer, Hanna, and Aria and threw them over their shoulders.

"Caleb! No! You know I don't like the water! No!" Hanna screamed and closed her eyes when she knew they were in water. Caleb threw her into the water, as did Toby and Ezra. Emily and Paige looked on from the shore, laughing. Spencer embraced it because she loved the water and it felt really good. She jumped into Toby's arms and wrapped her legs around his waist.

"I love you." She said before kissing him. He kissed her back in the water.

"Alright you two, there's a reason you're sharing a room tonight, it's so we don't have to see this." Caleb joked as he helped Hanna out of the water. The group went back to their respective rooms to get ready for dinner. The boys were dressed basically the same; in khaki shorts and t-shirts, Ezra had a button up instead though, with a few buttons undone, so his chest was showing.

"Oh, I don't know if you should wear that to dinner babe, I don't know if I can resist you for that long." Aria laughed as she took in his appearance. She was wearing a beachy dress, custom to Hawaii. All the girls were dressed in the traditional garb, looking sexy if the men had a say. They had a relaxing dinner, joking the entire time. The girls got together while the guys went out to get beer with Ezra's I.D.

"So guys, I have something to tell you, and I don't know if I should be happy or upset or what, so I need to know what you think." Hanna started rambling.

"What is it?" Spencer asked, sitting down in Aria and Ezra's bungalow.

"Well, I might be, I'm not sure yet, but I might be pregnant." Hanna whispered the last bit.

"Hanna, oh my gosh, that's insane! Did you take a test?" Emily wanted to know.

"Not yet, I was scared, I wanted to wait until you guys were here!" Hanna answered.

"Okay, well let's do it now before the guys get back. Did you get one yet?" Spencer was full of questions.

"Yeah, I brought one with me." Hanna started digging through her bags.

"Aria, are you alright?" Emily brought Aria's quiet state to everyone's attention.

"What? Oh yeah, I'm fine." Aria said quietly, before excusing herself and running to the bathroom. Everyone stood awkwardly, not knowing what to do.

Aria stood in the bathroom, wiping her eyes. She knew she should be happy for Hanna, but Aria couldn't help but be upset. How come Hanna could have a baby, but she had to lose hers? Aria felt guilty once again, but she knew she had to get back out there. She wiped her eyes for a final time and went back out to her friends.

"Sorry, I had to use the bathroom, so Hanna, are you going to take the test? Go back there!" Aria ushered her friend into the bathroom. Hanna came out about two minutes later and the girls all waited together for the five minutes. Emily's phone timer went off and all the girls looked at each other. They waited for Hanna to take the initiative. She didn't.

"Spencer, you go get it, I can't do it!" Hanna finally said. Spencer obliged and went to get the test from the bathroom. She came back shortly.

"Well, you aren't pregnant! Yay!" Spencer says and all the girls laughed and smiled.

"Thank God I'm not pregnant! I probably would've killed it!" Hanna exasperated.

"Oh Aria, that's not what I meant, I'm sorry." Hanna said after realizing what she had said was stupid.

"No, it's fine." Aria put on a fake smile for her friends. The guys came in soon after, beer in hand.

"Hand me one of those!" Hanna said excitedly, hugging Caleb. Toby handed her one, looking on her curiously.

"You're the best! I love you!" Hanna said as she embraced Caleb. All the guys laughed and looked at her strangely.

"What happened while we were gone?" Toby asked the girls, who were all giddy.

"Nothing, nothing at all thank God." Hanna answered for all of them. The group drank a few beers before calling it a night and heading their separate ways. Aria and Ezra changed into their pajamas.

"God, it's beautiful here." Ezra opened the doors to their balcony so they could feel the ocean breeze while they slept.

"Can I tell you something?" Aria asked as she wrapped her arms around Ezra's waist and leaned her head into his back as he stood in the Hawaiian breeze.

"Of course." Ezra said softly, not having to turn around, but knowing that Aria was there.

"Today, Hanna thought she was pregnant. And I was jealous. Well I don't know if it was jealousy, but I was sad I guess. I felt guilty." Aria said calmly, closing her eyes, melting into Ezra and the ocean sounds that filled her balcony.

"Babe, why would you feel guilty? You know that what happened wasn't your fault. The doctor said that it wasn't anyone's fault, remember?" Ezra wrapped his arms around Aria's.

"I made myself sick that day. Before we lost the baby, that day, someone said something that made me feel bad about myself. And so I went to the bathroom and threw up. It was my fault Ezra. I feel awful."

"Aria, never feel like it was your fault. I'm glad you told me, but it wasn't your fault. I got us in a car accident that night. If that wasn't what caused the miscarriage, nothing was. Don't feel like it was your fault." Aria nodded to his statement, feeling that she couldn't believe he wasn't mad at her.


	18. Chapter 18

When All Else Fails

Aria woke the next morning to a cool king sized bed. She looked around the room for Ezra, but the room was vacant. The door to the balcony was ajar and the warm ocean breeze washed over her. She got up, put on Ezra's discarded t-shirt that was on the floor, and walked over to the coffee machine. She poured herself a cup and went out to the balcony. She saw Ezra leaning against the railing in a pair of gym shorts and a cup of coffee in his hands, looking at the ocean. She wrapped her arms around his waist from behind.

"Morning baby." Aria said as she placed a kiss on his shoulder blade. He smiled and turned around and grabbed her waist. Aria smiled when she saw that Ezra was wearing his glasses. She loved when he wore his glasses, which was almost never.

"Hey, stop exposing the rest of us to your public nudity and get down here! We're going for breakfast!" Spencer yelled from the pool area, which was right below the couple's balcony. Aria laughed it off and went back to the bedroom to change. She put her bikini on and a pair of khaki shorts and a tank top on over top. Ezra put on his swimming trunks and a t-shirt and they headed out the door.

After breakfast the day was warm at the beach and they returned around five to shower before dinner. They met at the restaurant at seven and afterwards, went out for drinks. They found a dive bar nearby and they were nearly the only ones in there. They all got a little tipsy and started talking loudly and playing the jukebox.

"This is my favorite song! Come dance with me Toby!" Spencer yelled, she didn't hold her liquor too well. Toby laughed at his girlfriend who was dancing in the middle of the bar by herself. Aria and Hanna joined Spencer dancing while the boys laughed at them. Things got carried away when the girls started to dance on the tables. The boys knew it was time to take them home now. On the way back to their hotel, the group had to walk past a section of the beach.

"Let's go in the water!" Hanna sprinted off towards the water with everyone else in tow.

"Wait, Hanna, you don't even have your bathing suit on!" Caleb yelled to her before she got in the water. Hanna stopped in her spot and slowly turned around.

"I know." Hanna smiled devilishly before taking her clothes off. All the girls' eye's lit up while the boys all groaned. They knew what they were in for. The girls rushed towards the water, naked.

"Wait, you guys could get arrested! Come on!" Toby yelled. The boys didn't know what to do, so they decided to just wait it out. They soon saw headlights on the beach.

"Hey guys, sorry to bother you, but we got a noise complaint, we're going to have to ask you to call it a night." A friendly police officer said as he walked up to the boys on the beach.

"Oh, sorry sir, we didn't mean to-" Ezra started, being the oldest, he decided to take the lead.

"Ahh, I see what the issue is, if we could just get them out of the water and home, there's no need to press charges I don't think." The officer laughed, he obviously had seen this a few times before.

"Will do Officer, thank you so much." Ezra answered, knowing they had to get the girls out of the water. The boys rushed to the ocean as soon as the officer left.

"Girls, did you see that police officer? If you girls don't get out, you will be arrested! Let's go!"

"We don't have towels though!" Aria shouted back at Toby, trying to make herself heard over the waves.

"It doesn't matter, let's go!" Ezra shouted, hurrying the girls out of the water. Their naked bodies were shivering as they emerged from the water. The boys helped them pick up their clothes and they were back in their separate rooms before they knew it.

The following day they were going on a hike in the forest, which was beautiful. There was a large waterfall which collected at the bottom to form a small lake. The group swam in the lake for a while before continuing on their hike. About halfway towards the end of the hike, Spencer tripped on a tree root.

"Spencer, are you alright?" Hanna asked, worried when Spencer hit the ground face first. She rolled over on to her back with dirt on her face, hands and knees. Everyone crowded around her as she breathed deeply with her eyes closed trying to catch her breath.

"Spencer, hey look at me, open your eyes for me babe." Toby leant down, looking Spencer over, making sure she was okay. Spencer clenched her eyes shut even tighter as tears started spilling out.

"Everyone back up a little, give her some room to breathe." Paige said as she knelt beside Spencer. Paige had been to a future nurses camp for years because she knew that she wanted to be a nurse when she grew up.

"Hey Spencer, it's Paige, why don't you just stay on the ground, okay? I need you to open your eyes though." Paige said calmly, waiting for Spencer to open her eyes.

"Can one of you hand me your flashlight?" Paige asked of the group. Spencer slowly started to open her eyes and Paige shined the light in both her eyes.

"Follow the light for me Spencer." Paige ordered and Spencer obeyed.

"Okay, it doesn't seem like you have a concussion, but what hurts?"

"My foot, my foot!" Spencer wailed out, making the first noise since she had fallen. Everyone looked down at her foot, which they now noticed was bleeding through her Nike sneaker. Paige gently took off her sneaker and everyone was exposed to the gash on the side of her foot.

"Okay, that's bleeding pretty bad, uhh Caleb, can I have your bandana?" Caleb took the bandana that was holding his hair back and gave it to Paige. Paige tied it around Spencer's foot to try and stop the bleeding.

"She's going to need stiches, we have to get her to the hospital." Paige said. Toby picked her up and carried her the rest of the way before they got her in the car. Toby took her to the hospital while the rest of the group waited at the hotel. They arrived back about 2 hours later, with Spencer on crutches.

"Well 27 stitches later, here she is." Toby announced, holding the door open for her. She crutched in the door with a small smile on her face.

"They gave her some drugs too, so she should be fun tonight." Toby said sarcastically. They let Spencer sleep the rest of the night while they watched a movie in Ezra and Aria's room.

The rest of the week went by too fast than anyone would have liked, and soon enough they were all at the airport on the way home. They were able to board the plane before everyone else because of Spencer's foot and crutches, so they were happy about that. They were flying into Philly, which was about a five hour flight, with a two hour layover in San Francisco. The layover was terribly boring for all of them, but they managed to get fed lunch and get back on the plane in time. They were almost home, so when the announcement came on that they were descending, everyone started to gather their things.

"Sorry to inform you, but the pilot would like to let you know that we are re-circling the airport to try a second descent. We need to recircle because of a second plane that is also trying to land. Thank you." The flight attendant announced before the plane began to shake. Everyone started holding on to their seats and giving each other worried expression.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have to make an emergency landing, please follow the instructed protocol!" The flight attendant announced worried. The plane violently hit the ground as the sound of metal shredding filled everyone's ears. They held on for their lives until the plane came to a skidding halt. They could smell the smoke beginning to fill the cab of the plane. The smoke was so thick, they couldn't even see the person next to them. Spencer began feeling her way around, knowing she didn't have time to grab or find her crutches. She soon felt someone grab her and shove her down the emergency chute that had inflated from the plane onto the ground. When she finally hit the ground, she saw flashes of light and heard sirens all around her. Someone rushed her out of the area and onto a bus. She finally looked around and saw familiar faces on the bus, which was speeding off to somewhere unknown, but none of her friends were on that bus. She guessed they had been on another bus. The bus finally stopped at a secluded part of the airport, out of the way of danger. Spencer saw the many reporters and news crews and many people crying at the airport, she looked up at the tv and saw footage from the crash. She was then taken to the emergency station that was set up, with ambulances waiting to take injured people to the hospital. Before she could ask anyone where her friends were, she was being put in an ambulance.

"Where are my friends? Are they okay?"

"Miss, there were a lot of people on that plane, we aren't sure, we have to get you to the hospital." An EMT quickly told her before they shut the doors to the ambulance. In the ambulance, Spencer finally looked over herself, checking herself for injuries. Her stitches ripped open and her foot was bleeding again. She had a few scratches on her arms and legs, and maybe on her face, but she seemed fine otherwise.

"Someone has to find my friends, and my boyfriend! Where is my boyfriend!"

"Miss, what is your name, we will try to find them, please, just calm down. We also need to contact your family." A paramedic tried to calm her down as Spencer gave him all of her information.

"Tell them to call all of my friend's parents. They will call them." Spencer arrived at the hospital and was quickly taken out of the ambulance because they had to get back to the crash site. The hospital was filled with people, Spencer could hear all of the chaos going on. She was wheeled into a room and left to wait for a doctor.

Ezra heard the announcement only seconds before he felt the impact of the plane crash. As soon as he felt the ground under him stop moving, he felt for Aria next to him. He grabbed what he assumed what was Aria's wrist and he led them to the chute. He pushed her down the slide and then went back to where he hoped his friends were. He couldn't tell who was who, but he just kept grabbing people and leading them to the slide until he couldn't find anyone else on the plane. He then ran to the cute and slid down. He ran out of the area that was smokey and he heard a loud noise and he turned around. He felt the power of the plane explode before he could process it with his eyes. He was pushed to the ground by the force of the explosion and felt the air around him getting very hot before his world became dark.

Aria didn't hear what the flight attendant said, but she could see the panicked looked on everyone's faces. She grabbed Ezra's hand before she felt the plane smack against the ground. Her head was in a lot of pain, she hit it probably. She felt herself being drug through the throng of debris and people, and then down the chute. She hit the bottom and felt someone pick her up and whisk her away. She couldn't really open her eyes because they burned form the smoke. She felt herself being handed off to someone else and put into an ambulance before she dozed off into unconsciousness.

Toby stood up trying to fend off the smoke and keep Spencer in his line of sight, but she was whisked away but a faceless person. Toby breathed a sigh of relief because he knew Spencer was safe, he turned around and grabbed Hanna, who he could see was right behind him with tears in her eyes.

"Grab Caleb, get him, he wasn't moving, get Caleb!" Hanna yelled fending Toby off, telling him to get her boyfriend instead of her. Toby grabbed Hanna, not afraid to use force because he knew that it was important to get her off the plane. He didn't care if she hated him forever, he had to get her off the plane. After she went down the emergency exit, Toby went back to get Caleb. He couldn't see his face because the smoke was so thick, but he saw a body slumped in his seat, not moving, so he guessed it was Caleb. Toby ripped his seatbelt off and dragged his friend through the aisle of damaged plane parts and other various debris. He grabbed Caleb around the chest and slid down the slide with his lifeless body. He signaled for someone to grab Caleb when they were at the bottom of the slide. Emergency personnel lifted Caleb from Toby's arms as Toby sluggishly stood up. Other people were still coming down the slide and Toby felt bad that there was nothing he could do. He decided to help the people at the bottom of the slide get up. He saw numerous injuries that looked very serious and he helped them to the emergency station. He heard a loud noise and turned to see the remnants of the plane burst into flames, along with the occupants left on the plane.

Emily and Paige were luckily near the front of the plane, so when they had to make their emergency exit, it went smoothly for them. They were rushed onto a bus and taken to the inside of the airport. Since neither of them were hurt, they were left to watch the scene unfold on the television in front of them. Emily tried to get a hold of her parents. Once she did and told them they were fine, she called Spencer's parents first. They were on their way already, someone from the hospital had called them. Emily knew they had to head to the hospital then. She called Aria's parents, who had not yet been contacted, but were on their way because they saw what happened on the news. Hanna's mom was thankful Emily called and was on her way as soon as Emily had called with Reverend Ted. Emily and Paige got into a taxi and hurried off to the hospital to find their friends.


	19. Chapter 19

When All Else Fails

"Spencer Hastings?" A man in scrubs and a white lab coat overtop walked into the room that Spencer was occupying. Spencer nodded as he walked through the door.

"Alright, let's take a look at you, any complaints?" The doctor sat down and started to look Spencer over.

"Well, earlier this week, I had to get stitches on my foot because I fell and cut my foot open, and the stitches ripped open I think. But other than that, I just have a few cuts and bruises." The doctor agreed, but decided that she would need a few stitches on her chin also.

"If it's okay with you, I will send one of my interns to stitch you up, so I can go meet with other patients. We have an overflow of people coming in by the minute and one patient just came in who is unresponsive and there aren't any doctors to tend to him."

"No, of course, go see them, an intern is fine with me!" Spencer urged the doctor to leave to tend to other patients who were actually in a life or death situation. A few minutes later there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." Spencer said quietly. The door opened and in walked an intern.

"Spencer Hastings, my my, it's been awhile, hasn't it?" The intern said in a familiar voice.

"Wren, what are you doing here?" Spencer said with a smile on her face.

"I'm doing my clinical rotations, the better question is what are you doing here?"

"I was on the plane, I was in Hawaii for a week."

"Well that's too bad, who was with you?"

"Aria, Hanna, Ezra, Toby, Caleb, Emily, and Paige. If you hear anything about any of them, can you please let me know! I mean it's great to see a familiar face, but I need to make sure they're okay." Spencer asked as Wren sat down and started to prepare a numbing shot for her foot. He began to stitch her foot after he had inserted the needle.

"Of course. I'll keep my eye out for anything about them. Now let's take a look at that chin."

Ezra's eyes slowly opened; his vision was blurry at first. He could make out a few images and he presumed he was in a hospital room. He remembered the plane crash and getting Aria out of danger's way, but that was the last thing he remembered. He looked around his room, there was a nurse walking around, taking his vitals. She noticed he was awake and began to ask him questions. Ezra couldn't hear her though. He could hear mumbles, but he couldn't make out words, just sounds. He tried to talk but it seemed that his brain wasn't connected to his mouth. He tried to talk, but his mouth wouldn't move. The nurse stared at him, waiting for an answer. When she didn't get one, she noticed the confusion in his eyes. The nurse quickly walked out the door to find a doctor, he presumed. As he waited for the doctor, he could feel his eyes getting heavy. He couldn't resist shutting them just for a minute.

Aria woke up in the ambulance. Her head felt heavy and everybody rushing around didn't make it any better, let alone the blaring sirens. They finally arrived at the hospital and Aria was wheeled into a private room. Once she was alone, she looked herself over. Her body appeared fine, but her shoulder was sore. She really hoped she didn't mess it up all over again. It hurt to breathe, her eyes burned, her head was pounding. She just wanted to make sure her friends were okay. A doctor came in soon and introduced himself to her. After he examined her, he put her in a sling, much to Aria's dismay. He said that Aria most likely had a concussion and was suffering from smoke inhalation. He admitted her to the hospital and ordered her to be put on oxygen for at least the remainder of the day, and he would check back with her in a few hours. He suggested that she rest while getting her oxygen treatment that would be the best medicine for her concussion. A nurse would be in every hour to wake her up to make sure her brain wasn't swollen. Aria felt this was all unnecessary, but obliged. She was too tired to argue with a doctor. A nurse came in and put the oxygen tubes in her nose and then put a nose and mouth mask overtop of that. There was no way Aria could sleep with all of this on. She asked the nurse to contact her parents, and the nurse said they had already been contacted and that they were on their way.

"Do you know anything about my friends?" Aria asked, and the nurse asked Aria their names. Aria did so and the nurse responded.

"Spencer Hastings, she is being released soon. Ezra Fitz is being examined currently. Caleb Rivers is being transported to the hospital as we speak. Those are all of your friends that have been admitted so far." Aria thanked the nurse before she left. Aria knew that she should rest, but she couldn't, she was too worried about her friends.

Toby was frantically searching for some of his friends. He finally spotted Hanna, she was looking around, alone, tears were coming from her face.

"Hanna!" Toby called out to her and she turned around to face him. He ran to her and she embraced him tightly.

"Are you alright?" Toby asked, checking Hanna over for injuries. He found that she was fine, she had black ash smeared on her face, but that could wait. Right now, they needed to get to the hospital.

"Did you get Caleb?" Hanna cried out.

"Yeah, I got Caleb out. I don't know how he is, but I got him out. I got him out." Toby breathed, trying not to freak out because he knew if he did, than Hanna would be in hysterics. He lead her to one of the shuttle buses, which was now taking people to the hospital. They arrived about ten minutes later and found Emily and Paige in the waiting room.

"Thank god you guys are okay! We were so worried! Have you guys heard anything?" Hanna asked as Emily rushed towards her friends and hugged them.

"Spencer is fine, she's being released soon. Aria is going to be okay, she's on oxygen and she has a concussion. We haven't heard about Ezra or Caleb though."

"Can we see them?" Toby asked, anxious to see Spencer.

"I don't know, you'll have to ask the doctor." At that moment, Spencer was wheeled out in a wheelchair by Wren, who then gave her crutches and wished her well before leaving. Spencer's friends rushed over and Toby picked her up and held her tight. He never wanted to let go; he started to cry while holding her, and she was crying too.

"I was so worried about you. I'm so glad you're okay. God, I love you Spencer." Toby whispered in her ear as he finally gently put her down.

"I'm okay, I'm okay Toby. I promise. I'm okay, I'll never leave you. I love you, are you okay?" Spencer stepped back to get a look at Toby, checking him over, making sure he was injury-free. When she saw that he was, she hugged him again and kissed him. Then Emily, Hanna, and Paige all hugged her and they said how glad they were that everyone was okay. Spencer grabbed her crutches and went to ask the receptionist about Aria and if they could see her. The receptionist said they could see her, and directed them to the room she was in. Hanna knocked before going in and saw that Aria was sleeping with her oxygen on her. She looked so fragile with the oxygen on.

"Oh my god, she looks awful. Can she breathe? What's this for?" Hanna asked, gesturing towards her oxygen mask.

"Yes, she can breathe Hanna, she just breathed in a lot of smoke and ash, so they have her on oxygen to replenish the air quality in her lungs." Spencer answered, looking around for a place to sit. Toby took a seat in one of the four seats and gestured for Spencer to sit on the chair with him. She obliged before tiring out her already sore muscles even more.

"So do you guys think we should get a hotel room for the night, since I doubt these guys will be released anytime soon." Paige offered, knowing that none of them would want to think about that now, but they had to make arrangements before it got too late. It was now almost 8 in the evening, the crash had happened only about two hours ago. Their parents should be here soon, and they would probably get hotels also.

"Yeah, I think you guys need to rest, especially you Spencer." Toby suggested.

"But I don't want to leave them all here alone." Emily interjected, knowing that if they woke up and no one was here, they would be so scared and panicked.

"I'll stay here, you four go get a room, I can stay here, I'm fine. Nothing happened to me in the accident, and my adrenaline is pumping, I won't be able to sleep anyway. Please, girls, go rest." Toby begged, knowing they were all tired.

"Okay, but call us as soon as you hear anything about any of them." Hanna made him promise, knowing she would be devastated if something happened to Caleb while she was sleeping, but her eyelids were getting heavy; she knew she would sleep better in a bed. They got up and walked to the hotel that was right next to the hospital. They set their alarm for 8 in the morning, so while they could get up and get some clothes at the Target next to the hotel that were clean, they could get to the hospital in a timely matter. They got a room with two queen beds; one for Paige and Emily, and one for Hanna and Spencer to share. The hotel even said they would waive the fee since it was obvious that they were involved in the plane crash. The girls all showered and were asleep by ten.

Meanwhile, Toby sat in Aria's room since that was the only one of his friends that he could see. He watched some television, trying to pass time. Aria woke up a few times while he was in there and she seemed to be okay, just drowsy. Toby felt awful for her. Both herself and her fiancé were in the hospital, and they don't know the physical state of each other. He knew if Ezra could see Aria right now he would be crushed. The oxygen mask made her look especially weak. It made it seem like she was slowly dying in a way. Each time she woke up she was less and less with it; she didn't remember arriving the first time she woke, she didn't remember the accident the time after that, now she wasn't even waking up much for the nurses who were trying to wake her up to check her brain swelling. She would just open her eyes slowly, follow the light and shut her eyes again. Toby was beginning to get worried about her, and he was afraid that she was not the worst off of his friends. What if Caleb was in worse shape than her? Or Ezra? Toby's thoughts were interrupted when the doctor was knocked ajar.

"Toby! Are you okay? Where if everyone else?" Aria's parents were happy to see him, but worried about their daughter. They hugged him; glad he was okay.

"Hanna, Spencer, Emily, and Paige all checked into a hotel to get some rest. Spencer was the only one that was hurt, but she is okay, she just needed a few stitches. Aria is going to be fine. She just strained her shoulder again and she had bad smoke inhalation, so that's why they have her on oxygen. She also has a concussion, it's only mild, so they're monitoring it, but they aren't worried. I haven't heard yet about Ezra, but I pulled Caleb out and he wasn't conscious through any of it. Ezra got Aria out, but then he went back in so he could help get other people out. I'm not sure if he was on the plane when it blew up or not." Aria's parents nodded solemnly knowing that without Ezra, Aria may not be alive. They thanked Toby and told him that everyone else's parents were in the waiting room. Toby would have to break the news to all of the parents. He walked out to the packed waiting room. There was family all over the place, looking to locate loved ones. Everyone looked at the door when Toby walked through, hoping it was a doctor that could inform them on their loved ones. He saw everyone's depressed faces when they realized he was just a victim of the crash.

"Toby, oh thank God you're alright! Have you seen Spencer?" Spencer's mother nearly ran over to Toby, along with the other parents.

"I have seen Spencer, she is going to be alright. She needed a few stitches on her foot and on her chin. Hanna is completely fine, and so are Emily and Paige." The parents were relieved, as neither Caleb's parents were there or Ezra's. They were still worried about Aria, Ezra, and Caleb, but they were happy their children were fine.

"Aria is mostly awake, she suffered a concussion, smoke inhalation, and a strained shoulder muscle. They're just keeping her to treat her smoke inhalation. I have yet to hear about Caleb or Ezra." The parents all had worried expressions on their faces. All the parents went to the same hotel that all the girls were at except for Aria's parents, who were in the room with her. Toby wasn't sure what to do next, he didn't want to impede on Aria's time with her parents, but he didn't want to go back to the hotel. Soon enough, a nurse came out into the waiting room and everyone looked at her expectantly.

"I'm looking for Toby Cavanaugh?" Toby stepped forward, anxious to hear what this was about.

"I'm Toby Cavanaugh." He told the nurse.

"Okay, I have information regarding your friends. Ezra Fitz suffered severe burns to his legs, so they were repaired in a quick surgery to replace the skin there. He woke up in shock and his hearing was still impaired from the explosion, it is beginning to come back. He can hear a few things, but it has to be quiet in the room, otherwise the background noise will cancel out your words. He is awake and you can see him shortly after this. Caleb Rivers is a different story; he was unresponsive when he arrived, but we were able to revive him, but we had to rush him into emergency surgery on his femur because his artery was severed in the accident and he was losing blood very fast. He just got out of surgery, and is stable, but he is in critical condition. The next 24 hours are pertinent for his recovery." The nurse informed Toby. He knew he had to call Hanna right away as he promised her.

"Hanna, it's Toby."

"Hey, what's the update?" He could tell that he had woken up everyone in the room with his phone call.

"Ezra is okay, he had bad burns on his legs which were repaired and he was temporarily deaf from the explosion. He is slowly getting his hearing back though."

"And Caleb…?"

"Hanna listen, before I tell you this, you need to know that there is no reason for you to come down here now."

"Toby just tell me!" Hanna was getting frustrated.

"Caleb was unresponsive when he got to the hospital, but they revived him. He was taken into emergency surgery for a blood transfusion and to fix one of his arteries. He is out of surgery now and stable, but in critical condition. He is in the ICU and no one can see him because they don't want to expose him to an infection." Toby could tell Hanna was crying on the other end.

"I'll call you if I find out anything else." Toby said sadly, feeling awful for Hanna. The conversation ended and Toby was now allowed to see Ezra.

Ezra's face lit up as soon as Toby walked through the door. Finally, someone who could tell him about his friends.

"Toby, how is everyone?" Ezra said a little loud.

"Well, Spencer, Hanna, Emily, Paige and myself are fine." Ezra's eyes were confused; he couldn't hear Toby.

"What?" Toby looked around trying to find a way to communicate with the nearly deaf man. He typed onto his phone and handed it to him. Ezra's eyes became worried when Aria's name wasn't mentioned. Toby took the phone back and wrote that Aria was okay, but he informed him of her injuries. Ezra's face dropped when he read that Aria was on oxygen. Toby took the phone back and pulled up a picture of Aria hooked up to the machine. It could be a bad idea showing Ezra how fragile she looked, but he needed to see her right now and he couldn't. Tears welled up in his eyes.

"Caleb?" Toby typed more, explaining Caleb's condition and Ezra looked devastated. Ezra and Toby watched tv to pass the time and Ezra was in and out of sleep. Toby eventually fell asleep in his chair and was woken up by a nurse who was taking Ezra's vitals.

"Excuse me, what time is it?"

"It is 8 in the morning sir." The nurse answered. Toby checked his phone and saw that the girls were on their way. He went down to the cafeteria to grab breakfast before Ezra woke up. He came back and almost ran into the girls. They followed him to Ezra's room and all hugged him, glad he was going to be okay. Hanna was still waiting impatiently to see Caleb. Toby was paged that Aria was now awake and asking for her friends.

"I want to go. Please, take me with you." Ezra pleaded with the group. They got permission from the doctor to take him down to see Aria in a wheelchair. A nurse got Ezra situated in the chair while Toby pushed him to the elevator. As they approached Aria's door, Ezra suddenly became nervous and he didn't know why. Hanna held open the door for the pair and when Aria saw Ezra, her eyes filled with tears. She got out of the hospital bed and went right over to Ezra's wheelchair. They hugged until Aria began to get dizzy. She held onto her IV pole to steady herself. She was still hooked up to the oxygen mask, which scared Ezra. She looked like she was in so much pain, even though she really wasn't.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Ezra asked her, worried.

"Yeah, I promise, I'm fine. Everything's okay Ez, everything's okay." Aria attempted to soothe her fiancé, who was crying. She didn't know that he couldn't understand her. Toby helped Aria get back into bed and Aria looked around at her group of friends.

"Caleb?" Aria asked reluctantly.

"He is in ICU, they're keeping him isolated to prevent infection until his burns heal more." Emily explained since Hanna was too upset to explain it.

"He'll be okay Hanna, I know it. I have a feeling. Toby got him out of there, everything will be okay." Aria soothed her friend, who was worried about her boyfriend. Ezra sat in his wheelchair trying to understand what everyone was saying, but they were talking too fast. He gave up and just zoned out.

"Ez, when are you being released?" Aria hoped it would be sooner rather than later. Ezra didn't respond, but kept staring off into space. Toby whipped out his phone and began typing. Aria had a confused look on her face when Toby handed his phone to Ezra. Ezra read the message and responded that he hoped by this afternoon. Hanna leaned over and told Aria that Ezra was almost completely temporarily deaf. Aria looked at him sympathetically and he gave her a half-hearted smile.

The rest of the morning was spent with the group of friends reuniting with their families and waiting for news on Toby. Aria was released after her oxygen treatment and spent the rest of the afternoon in Ezra's room. Hanna was finally able to see Caleb, but only for a few minutes. The group went back to the hotel for the night besides Aria, who stayed with Ezra in the hospital. Around four in the morning, there was a commotion outside that woke Aria. She went out into the hallway to see what was going on. Doctors were running around, getting a crash cart ready.

"All emergency staff to ICU for trauma, all emergency staff to ICU for trauma. Code blue." The loudspeaker came on and the words flooded through Aria's head. There was no way that was Caleb, there were so many other people in the ICU. She pulled her phone out of her pocket to check the time and saw she had a text message.

You were getting a little boring Aria, so I had to spice things up. Hanna won't be too happy though. Kisses, A. Aria dropped her phone on the ground, which woke Ezra. Aria didn't even notice though because her world felt like it was crashing down around her.


	20. Chapter 20

When All Else Fails

"Hanna, he's going to be okay, I promise. You just need to breathe. Okay, breathe." Spencer soothed her friend who was in hysterics. Caleb had gone into cardiac arrest last night and he was in emergency surgery currently. Ezra was finally released earlier that morning and was at the hotel resting, along with Aria, who hadn't gotten that much sleep the night before either. Hanna had been inconsolable since she found out that her boyfriend almost died earlier and she hadn't been there. She felt guilty because she didn't even want to leave the hospital in the first place, but her mother convinced her that there was nothing she could do for him except take care of herself.

"Aria, what's wrong babe?" Ezra asked, half asleep and his eyes still closed.

"What?" Aria was surprised by his voice because she had thought he was asleep. His hearing had significantly improved since he was released, as the doctors predicted.

"What're you worried about?" Ezra rolled over and finally opened his eyes.

"How do you know I'm worrying if you didn't even have your eyes open?" Aria let out a small chuckle as she ran her hand through her hair.

"You think I need to see you with my eyes to know what's going on in that head of yours? You forget that I know what a real sleeping Aria looks and sounds like. And I don't hear any snoring right now."

"I do not snore! Take that back!" Aria gently hit her fiancé jokingly on the shoulder. Ezra laughed and then waited for Aria to answer his question.

"I just don't understand why all this bad stuff keeps happening to us? Like what did we do to deserve all of this; a car accident, a miscarriage, a plane crash? What's next? It seems like a different day a different disaster. I'm scared that eventually it will tear us apart and I don't want that to happen." Aria snuggled under the covers and faced Ezra.

"Aria, that won't happen. I can't promise that bad things won't happen to us, and I can't promise you that everything will always be okay, but I can promise you that _we_ will always be okay. That I can control, I will always be by your side. I was so scared when I woke up from the plane crash and you weren't there, and I promise that that will never happen again." Ezra kissed the top of Aria head as she nodded. Finally, exhaustion took over and sleep overcame her and lulled her into a comfortable sleep.

When the pair awoke many hours later, they showered and headed to the hospital. There was no news on Caleb yet, so they waited with the rest of the group. Emily and Paige and their families had left that morning because even though they wanted to be there for Caleb, they were just in the way at the hospital. They were waiting by the phones at home waiting for news though.

"You know what?" Aria turned to Ezra in the waiting room.

"What?"

"I want to get married, and sooner rather than later. With all of this tragedy that we've faced, I've realized that I don't want to live more days than I have to without being your wife. Let's get married before we have to go back to school in the fall."

"Aria, I love hearing you say that, but that's in five weeks! We wouldn't have much time to plan or anything, we wouldn't even have time for a honeymoon!"

"We already had a honeymoon, we just got back from it! We can save our money then anyway, so we can buy a house some day, or so we can start to pay of your student loans. Baby, let's do it! We can have a small wedding, or we can elope, let's do it!" Aria was getting excited just thinking about it.

"Are you sure? I mean, that's a lot of planning, and time that you'll have to spend doing tedious tasks, I mean this is you're last summer of being a kid, do you really want to get married?"

"That's exactly what I want."

"I guess we're doing this then!" Ezra got up and hugged Aria, happy that he had found a woman that wanted to spend the rest of her life with him even though he didn't deserve her at all. She is such a better person than he is and she deserved someone who was more at her caliber, but Ezra had tried to tell her that time and time before, but she wouldn't hear any of it. At that moment, a doctor came out looking for Caleb's family, and Hanna and her mom went to talk to him since Caleb family was in Montecito while the rest of the group waited behind, crossing their fingers for good luck. This moment could change their lives forever. Everybody tried to read the doctor's face from where they were standing, but sighed of relief when they saw Hanna and her mom come back with smiles on their faces.

"Well he's not out of the woods yet, he had to have open heart surgery, but he should be okay eventually, they just had to repair his right valve, he's still under heavy sedation but once he's out of recovery, we can go see him." Ashley informed everyone.

"Oh thank god! Hanna that's great!" Aria and Spencer hugged Hanna and everyone else shared hugs all around.

"Well Han, since Caleb is going to be okay, I think we're all going to head home, kind of recover a little if that's okay." Spencer told Hanna, making sure that it was okay with her if they left. Hanna said that was fine and everyone made the forty minute drive home. Aria and Ezra shared their news about the wedding with her parents. They were excited since Aria and Ezra have more than proved that their relationship can withstand anything. They may be young, but the two of them were obviously in love.

"It feels so good to be back home!" Aria felt relieved that her friends were going to be fine and that after almost a month away from home that they were back in their apartment.

"I'm beat babe, I might take a nap." Ezra said as he headed to their bedroom. Aria declined his offer to join him and she stayed in the kitchen.

When Ezra woke up a few hours later, Aria sounded busy in the kitchen. He walked out and saw magazine cuttings and phone numbers and decorations all over the place.

"Did the kitchen explode, or did we leave it this way when we left for Europe?" Ezra joked as he saw the mess.

"No, I went out and bought a few bridal magazines and called a few people, that's it…" Aria said innocently.

"So I can't tell if you're excited about this or not…"

"Shut up." Aria smiled and started showing Ezra wedding invitations about calendar dates and venues. They decided on August 16, which was in six weeks. Aria left a message at the church to see if they were free for that Saturday evening. If the wedding couldn't be there, then they decided that they would do it in her parent's backyard. Aria was already looking at wedding dresses online and she found one she liked, but would have to go in to the bridal shop to try it on before she made a final decision. She knew that Caleb was being transferred to the local hospital tomorrow and that meant Hanna would be around, so all the girls would be around to go shopping with her. She sent out a group text to Emily, Hanna, Spencer, her mom, and Mike. Even though Mike was a guy, she still valued his opinion over anyone else's except Ezra's. He wanted to make sure that Mike loved it. Everyone was in for the trip and now it was setting in that she was really getting married at the end of the summer.

The next day, the group met at the bridal store in town, and Aria quickly found the dress she had found on the internet and went to try it on while the group waited outside. She emerged from the dressing room about five minutes later to be met with the awes of her friends and family.

"So, do you like it?" Aria waited for their response as they looked at her dress. It was simple and elegant. It had a small train to it. The whole dress was made of cream-colored lace and it had small half sleeves on the top, but in a cute way. Aria didn't have to bust to hold up a strapless dress, so the sleeves were the best touch. The dress had an open back and was tight on her midsection and loose on the legs, but it didn't flare out much. The dress was perfect for her petite frame.

"Aria, that dress is amazing!" Spencer was the first to speak. Ella had tears in her eyes as the other girls gushed.

"I don't think you even have to try on another dress Ar, this one is perfect for you. You need to get this one!" Emily said. Mike finally spoke up.

"Aria, this is the dress that you are getting married in. You look incredibly beautiful in it. Ezra is one lucky guy, and I'm a lucky guy to call you my sister." Mike hugged Aria and Ella agreed. Aria was instantly in love with the dress and knew that this was the one she had to get. She ordered it and the seamstress took her measurements to alter the dress properly. They then looked at bridesmaid dresses; Aria told the girls that she would not be able to pick one of them to be maid of honor so all three girls would be the maids of honor. Aria wanted the bridesmaid dresses to be olive green, since that was one of her favorite colors and it looked good on all of the girls. All of the girls agreed on a dress that fell above the knee that was strapless and had an empire waist to it. The other girls were fitted for the dresses and then everyone went out to lunch afterwards.

"So Aria, are you going to show Ezra the dress?" Mike asked at lunch.

"No way! I mean it'll be really hard because I'm so excited about it, but I don't want him to see it until I'm walking down the aisle."

"One of us will take it home with us so you aren't tempted to show him." Spencer reassured Aria, knowing that she would be the one to take it home since she was the most responsible. Aria headed home to Ezra to show him pictures of the bridesmaid dresses. He liked them a lot and couldn't wait to see Aria in her dress. He knew that Hardy would be his best man and Mike a groomsman. The church called them back that day and said that the church was available for Saturday evening for the service, but they didn't do receptions. The reception would be in Aria's parent's backyard afterwards. They sent out their invitations the next day and in the following weeks they had decided on the catering and the wedding cake. Since the ceremony would be relatively small, they weren't too worried about price since they wouldn't have to pay for a reception hall either. There would be about 75 people at the wedding, which would include close family and friends and people who had seen them grow up.

In the weeks leading up to the wedding, Ezra had his fitting for his suit and his groomsmen came with him to try on their suits as well. They were going with traditional black and the groomsmen would wear olive green ties while Ezra would wear a black tie.

"So, are you excited yet bud?" Hardy asked Ezra.

"Hell yeah, I can't wait to see her in that dress, I mean it's pretty much like we're already married, but it's the ceremony that changes everything. I can't wait, really."

"Yeah, you'll shit your pants bro, that dress was amazing." Mike added, which only fueled Ezra's fire.

"I honestly cannot wait to marry her."


	21. Chapter 21

When All Else Fails

It was the afternoon of August 14, and Aria's bachelorette party would be taking place later that evening. Ezra was having a bachelor party, but they were just going out drinking. Aria was excited for her party because Hanna had planned it all, so it was bound to be fun for everyone. All of the girls would be there too, since they didn't leave for college until the 22. Aria was finishing drying her hair when Ezra walked into the room.

"Hey baby, you look awful nice for just going to a bachelorette party, you aren't going to a strip club or anything are you?" Ezra joked, placing a kiss on the top of Aria's head.

"Oh, and you aren't?" Aria laughed and looked at her soon to be husband.

"I have no idea, Hardy has planned it all."

"Just try to not completely corrupt my brother, he's only 16." Aria knew that Mike had to go to the bachelor party since he was a groomsman, but she was worried the boys might get carried away.

"We'll be fine, I promise. Hardy isn't a dumb guy, and I'll watch over him." Ezra reassured his bride to be.

"Well, I'm meeting the girls at Hanna's house in about fifteen minutes, so I have to go, but I love you. Have fun, but be good!"

"You too babe, love you." Ezra kissed his fiancée for the last time before they would see each other at the rehearsal dinner. Aria put the last bit of mascara on her eyelashes and headed out the door. She got into her car and texted Hanna that she was on her way. She started her engine and was off for the ten-minute drive from her apartment to Hanna's house. She arrived at the house to see a bunch of cars outside. Aria hoped that there weren't too many people inside, she just wanted it to be an intimate gathering with her best friends. Aria rang the doorbell while checking her purse to make sure she had her cell phone.

"Aria! You're here! Finally!" Hanna swung her front door open and was followed by the rest of the girls.

"So, my mom is having a little girl's night at our house, so that means that we are going out!" Hanna announced, grabbing her purse from the hallway and stepping out the door.

"Okay, well are we taking your car or what?" Aria spun around to see a party bus in Hanna's driveway, which had just pulled up.

"Oh my god, Hanna, this is crazy! You got this just for us?"

"Well us and a few other people…" Hanna said suspiciously and Aria went to check the bus out. Inside were a bunch of her friends from school and some of her older girl cousins who she hadn't seen in awhile.

"You guys! This is awesome! Thank you so much!" Aria was so excited and she sat down as the bus drove off. She was handed a drink at the same time and she inquired about where they were going.

"Well first, we're going to dinner because a girl's gotta eat." Spencer informed her as they pulled up to a fancy restaurant nearby. After eating a hefty dinner, the girls filed back on the bus to go to their next location, which was a lingerie store.

Meanwhile…

"Alright, Hard, I'm at this restaurant and no one else is here." Ezra spoke into his phone fifteen minutes after Hardy had told him to meet him there.

"Ezra, buddy? Where are you? We're all here waiting for you!"

"You told me to meet you at DeMarina's for pizza, but no one's here!"

"No man, I told you to meet us at Limoncello's! Get your ass over here!" Hardy then hung up the phone on Ezra, who had no other option to head down the road to the other restaurant. He arrived a few minutes later to see all of his friends gathered outside the restaurant. The men all cheered when Ezra got out of his car, and they then headed inside to the restaurant.

"Hi, we have a reservation for 10 people for Hardy." Hardy told the hostess.

"Uhh, I'm sorry, we don't have any reservation under that name." The hostess said apologetically.

"What? I called about a week ago! You said that you had room for ten at seven o'clock!" Hardy was getting upset at the lack of service at the restaurant.

"I'm sorry sir, but there's nothing-"

"To hell with you good for nothing hostess. I can assure you that none of us will ever be servicing your restaurant ever again!" Hardy yelled as Ezra pulled him away and flashed the hostess an apologetic look. Ezra pulled him outside with the rest of the group.

"Man, Ezra, I'm so sorry, I was positive that this was the place I called, maybe I did call DeMaria's. I don't know man, this sucks, I'm sorry." Ezra just laughed at the coincidence, of course this would happen to him.

"It's alright buddy, we'll just go to a bar or something." Ezra laughed as everyone got in their cars and agreed to meet at the bar where Aria had met Ezra.

Meanwhile…

"Guys, I can't wear any of this! This stuff is so…naughty! I can't pull this off." Aria laughed, slightly embarrassed, looking at the pieces of lingerie.

"Aria, you're getting married in two days! This guy will see everything, know everything, and come to hate everything about you! You have to keep things spicy!" Hanna laughed while browsing for items for herself.

"He won't hate me!"

"Aria, he'll know exactly when you get your period! He'll hear you go to the bathroom! He'll see you blow your nose! Trust me, he'll get annoyed, and so will you." Emily added in, the girls were just joking, but Aria was scared they were right. One day Ezra might resent her for making him get married so young, maybe this wouldn't last? Aria was only eighteen, what if this is just young love, crazy and insane, but neither of them can see that this won't last? Aria was overcome with a fear that they were making a mistake.

"Aria, we're just joking, you need a drink and some sexy lingerie, so let's buy!" Spencer spoke with a voice of reason, so they picked out a few items for Aria and they headed back to the party bus.

"Alright, now for the drinks part!" Spencer said as the bus took off. Fifteen minutes later, they were on the outskirts of town, pulling up to a bar.

"This place is good for two reasons. One, they are loose on checking IDs. Two, this is the monumental spot where you met your dear fiancé. So let's get some drinks!" Hanna yelled as the party of girls walked into the bar. The bar was packed, but being young girls, they didn't have any trouble getting drinks. Aria was given a tiara with a veil on it and a sash that said bachelorette on it. About thirty minutes later, all of the girls were pretty buzzed and a couple of the guys were buying them drinks.

Meanwhile…

"The bar looks so crowded dude, let's just head back to my place and you can buy me a bunch of beers or something." Ezra whined, looking at all the cars in the parking lot.

"No way, we promised you a guy's night out, so that's what you're going to get." The men all went into the bar and saw all of the people there; Ezra groaned. The guys all stood there trying to get a drink, but since it was so busy they couldn't get the attention of the bartender.

"How come those girls are getting drinks?" Ezra was getting frustrated that this night was not turning out how he planned.

"Because they're girls, let's go make friends, maybe we can get a drink from them!" Hardy said before heading over to the group of girls.

"Hardy I don't think this is a great idea." Ezra moaned as he followed his best friend to the group of girls.

"Hello ladies, see my best friend here is getting married in two days, and we can't seem to get any drinks to take the edge off for him." Hardy said to Hanna.

"Well that's funny because my best friend is also getting married in two days." Hanna said as Aria turned around to face Hardy.

"Oh shit…Aria…." All Hardy could do was laugh.

"Yes Hardy, you have made your feelings about Aria very clear, but still the answer is no, I will not sell her to you." Ezra said still trying to flag down the bartender.

"No, Ezra, it's Aria. She's here."

"What?" Ezra was now paying attention, looking to see what Hardy was talking about, but was stopped short when his gaze was forced down to meet a pair of round eyes, almost as if muscle memory had taken over. He was so used to moving his gaze down about a foot to meet his fiancées eyes.

"Aria! What are you doing here?" Ezra was excited to see his almost bride, but he could tell right away that she was inebriated

"Baby! What are you doing here! I'm so glad to see you!" Aria practically jumped in his arms.

"Uh, I'm here to drink, as I see you have already been doing." Ezra smirked as he held Aria upright.

"Yeah! I have! Here let me get you a drink!" Aria leaned against the bar and shoved her breasts out to get someone's attention. Ezra knew that she had done that to him many times before, but it worked for her. He was too busy watching Aria to notice that she had gotten the drinks. She came back and gave him three shots of tequila, with two for herself.

"You sure you can handle that much? You've already had a lot to drink." Ezra knew she was a lightweight and with the wedding in two days, he wanted her to be okay on the day of their wedding.

"I'm fine, come on, we're getting married in two days, let's celebrate!" The whole party was taken to a back room where they all continued to drink. Hanna had been taking pictures all night and was sure she definitely had some good pictures now that everyone was drunk.

"Hey, you want to sneak out of here?" Aria whispered to Ezra, making a motion towards the door. Ezra just had that familiar smirk on his face and Aria knew he was in. They snuck off to the party bus and stumbled to the back. Both Ezra and April were drunk so they were very sloppy in their actions. Soon Aria had her bra unhooked, but still on and her skirt was still on, but her tiara was askew, her veil was ripped, and her hair was a mess. Ezra had his shirt off, and one shoe on. Ezra went to reach for Aria's bra hook when they heard someone start laughing. They both immediately snapped up.

"Holy shit, this is great!" Hanna snapped a picture of the couple with a deer-in-the-headlights look on their faces. Hanna walked off the bus, leaving the couple mortified.

"Oh my god, I'm so embarrassed." Aria started laughing as her face turned red. All they could do was laugh.

At the end of the night, Hanna took Aria home with her and Ezra went back to the apartment since it was their bachelor and bachelorette parties and Aria was trying to keep from seeing Ezra until she walks down the aisle with the exception of the rehearsal dinner tomorrow evening.

Spencer woke Aria up the next morning at eleven.

"How aren't you hungover?" Emily moaned as she poured herself a cup of coffee and slumped on Hanna's couch.

"Well for one I drank significantly less than all of you, and I also drank one of these." Spencer handed all of the girls a green smoothie looking drink.

"That looks disgusting. I'm not drinking it." Hanna refused.

"Yeah, what's even in here?" Emily asked inspecting the drink.

"It doesn't matter, just drink it." Spencer said avoiding the question. The girls obliged and took a sip.

"This is disgusting. It tastes like the devil's breath!" Emily spat after tasting the green liquid.

"Alright, it's not that bad! Just finish it, you will feel so much better!" Spencer coaxed. The girls reluctantly finished their drinks and ate a small breakfast before heading off to the nail salon to get their manicures and pedicures for the rehearsal dinner and the wedding.

"Oh my god, you guys need to get married now, I could definitely get used to this." Emily sighed to Hanna and Spencer as the nail technician massaged her calves.

"How about you get married? I'm not in a rush." Hanna informed.

"Um hello Hanna, we live in Pennsylvania, where it is still illegal to marry someone of the same sex." Spencer corrected her, as Emily and Aria laughed.

"Oh yeah, well that sucks. Sorry." Hanna apologized for her absentmindedness.

"It's alright, I'm in no rush either."

"Hey, I'm not in a rush! I'm just in love. I've gone through way too much with Ezra and I don't want to spend another day without being married to him. We've both almost died and I don't want to waste my life away. I don't want to live another day without being his wife." Aria felt that she was being judged by her friends, but she knew that none of her friends have felt as strongly about their significant others as she did.

"We know Ar, and we're happy for you." Emily reassured Aria. The girls finished getting their nails done and were on their way to pick up their dresses from the boutique in town. They then went back to Spencer's house where they would be spending the night in the barn after the rehearsal dinner. The dinner was just going to be close friends and family in the church reception hall after they went over the proceedings at the church. They started to get ready, Aria in a knee length gold dress with a pair of black peep toe shoes, which showed off her French pedicure. Spencer was in a cream colored strapless dress with a pair of lilac colored heels. Hanna was dressed in a tight black skirt with a pink tank top on with a sweater over top. Emily was dressed in a sundress and wedges. The girls arrived at the church around five, right on schedule, to see that the boys weren't there yet. Aria went to greet the pastor while the girls waited outside for the boys. They pulled up in separate cars about ten minutes later and Ezra nearly ran out of his car.

"Is she inside? Is she pissed that I'm late?" He asked the girls quickly.

"She's inside, but I don't think anything can ruin this perpetually happy mood she's in." Spencer informed while the girls waited for Toby, Caleb, Hardy, and Mike to get out of their cars. Ezra had really bonded with the boys when they were on vacation, so they were going to be the two other groomsmen.

"It's about time, you guys are late!"

"Sorry, we had to pick up the suits and that took longer than expected. But we're here now, so let's go!" Toby said, holding the door open for all of the girls.

The pastor went over how the next day would go, and what they would say, and soon enough they were all off to the rehearsal dinner in the church reception hall. There they met their parents and introduced them to each other, along with grandparents and aunts and uncles. They ate a dinner of shrimp cocktail as an appetizer, and alfredo for the main dish. Aria stood up to make a speech when everyone was almost finished with dinner.

"Hi everyone, I would just like to say thank you for helping us put this wedding together in such a short time. I truly cannot wait to marry my wonderful fiancée tomorrow and you're all to thank for that, so from the both of us, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you for blessing us with your presence both today and tomorrow." Ezra stood next to Aria while she finished her speech and nodded along with her. Everyone clapped and enjoyed the rest of dinner. Aria and Ezra were mingling as the night drew to a close.

"Well I better get going to Spencer's, it's getting late, and I have to have my beauty sleep." Aria joked as the clock struck nine.

"You don't need that. You're beautiful all on your own." Ezra leaned down to kiss his girlfriend.

"Just think, that's the last time we'll kiss as single people. By this time tomorrow, we'll be married!" Aria squealed.

"I don't know, I might just say no, and leave you at the altar." Ezra joked.

"You better not Ezra Fitz!"

"You know I could never do that to you Aria Fitz!" Aria smiled when he said that.

"I love that name."

"Good, you better get used to it." Ezra hugged Aria and kissed the top of her head. He saw her get into the car with Spencer before he got in his own car for the night to sleep at his apartment one last time as a single man.


	22. Chapter 22

When All Else Fails

Aria's alarm went off at nine in the morning. She groaned as her tired hand went over to turn it off.

"Aria! You're getting married today!" Spencer jumped on Aria as all of the girls started screaming about how excited they were. Aria was all smiles as she got in the shower at Spencer's. She had gotten plenty of sleep because even though they were all sleeping in the barn, they all knew that they would have to get their beauty rest because the next day would be a long one for all of them, especially Aria. The first item on their list was to get their eyebrows waxed. After they all showered, they went off to the salon. After their eyebrows were done, they had a light lunch, since they had to be at the church by five. The ceremony was to start at six, but they had pictures to take before then and still had to get ready. The limo was picking them up 4:30 and they were to be all ready to go by then. The ladies were coming to the barn to do their hair and makeup at 2, so they headed back to the barn right after lunch. As they waited for the stylists to arrive, the girls sat down and had a minute to themselves for the first time that day.

"God, I can't believe I'm getting married today! This is nuts!" Aria exclaimed as she drank some of her green tea.

"I know! Are you ready? There's still time to change your mind." Spencer reminded Aria.

"Yes, I'm positive! I'm so ready for this. That's why I'm not nervous."

"You guys have been through so much in the past few years, I can't even imagine." Emily thought out loud.

"Yeah, a secret romance, an illegal romance for that matter, an eating disorder, a shoulder injury, a car accident, a plane accident, a month vacation to Europe…" Hanna trailed off.

"A baby…" Aria added, thinking back on her senior year with Ezra. Everyone got quiet as Aria's eyes filled with tears.

"Aria, it's your wedding! Don't cry!" Spencer convinced sympathetically.

"I'm sorry, I'm not going to cry. I'm just remembering that day."

"It must have been awful." Emily noted; it was the first time they all really talked about that day because Aria never wanted to talk about it.

"It was." Aria said emotionlessly. Hanna made a bold move and asked the next question.

"You never really told us about that day. What exactly happened?"

"Well we came home from the hospital after the accident, and we fell asleep pretty soon. And I rolled over in the middle of the night and the sheets were damp. My first thought was 'Oh my god, I peed while I was asleep and I wet the bed.' But then I lifted the sheets off me and they were dark red. I can still remember that color, it wasn't red like normal blood. It was dark, dark red; almost black. I woke him Ezra and he was amazing. My mind was a mess, and I'm sure his was too, but he kept it together for me. He got dressed because his pajamas were covered in my blood; he got me dressed and took me to the hospital. He took me inside and they took me back to a room while he parked the car. The doctor warned me that it didn't look very good, and that when people come in bleeding, it usually is not a good sign, but he wanted to run some tests. Then Ezra broke, he started crying and saying it was all his fault and that he's so sorry, but I felt strangely calm. The doctor came in and told us that I needed to have a D & C as soon as possible, but he gave us a few minutes alone and Ezra cried, he cried a lot. I still had that sensation where I couldn't feel anything. The doctor came back in and explained the procedure to me and Ezra and a nurse prepped me for surgery. I will never forget what Ezra said next. He said, 'I need you to be strong because I cannot lose you tonight too. You have to be brave because I can't do that for you right now. You're all I have left anymore and I need you to be safe, so I'm going to do everything in my power to keep you safe. But I can't right now, so please keep yourself safe.' And then he told me he loved me and he would see me when I was awake. The next thing I remember we were sitting in silence in my room, with the lights off. Both of our hearts were breaking and there was nothing that either of us could do about it. I remember that I felt we shouldn't have told anyone, it was too early. And now on top of all of this, we had to tell everyone what had happened, which would only add to the pain. I asked him to come lay with me and he did. I fell asleep and he woke me up around 6 and we went home. We got their and we went back to the room and the sheets were still on the bed since we left in such a hurry earlier. Just seeing that made it a reality that our baby was gone. That she was up in heaven, far away from the rest of us. And then I guess he called you guys and you know the rest." The girls all remained quiet for the story and by the end, they were all in tears.

"She?" Emily muttered out.

"Well, the doctor said it was too early to tell, but I think Ezra and I both felt pretty strongly that it would've been a girl. We never even got to fight over names or anything."

"Aria, did anything else happen that day? You never wanted to talk about it, and now that you have, it's like an open faucet." Hanna inquired.

"I got a text, from A. When I woke up when you guys came to the apartment, it was waiting on my phone. It said 'I told you bad things happen when you don't listen to me.'" Aria was even more upset now.

"Why didn't you tell us about that? Aria, that's really big stuff." Spencer wondered.

"I was heartbroken. I was destroyed on the inside. I couldn't even process the face that A could have done that." Aria explained.

"Aria, there is no way that A could've done this to you. She can't be inside your body." Emily offered.

"I was so awful to Ezra that day. He was just trying to help, but I was so distraught over that text that I couldn't help it. And I feel guilty about it every day since then."

"Ar, Ezra knows that you were just hurting. He forgives you, he understands." Spencer explained.

"Yeah, you're right, excuse me." Aria wiped the tears from her eyes and ran to the bathroom, locking the door behind her. After about five minutes the girls could hear that Aria was still upset in the bathroom so they made a bold move by texting Ezra.

_Hey, we've got a bit of a problem. Our conversation with Aria got into some deep stuff. And she's locked herself in the bathroom, crying. Maybe you should come by._

Emily texted Ezra, who responded right away.

_I'll be right over._

Ten minutes later, there was a knock on the door. They answered it and Ezra was revealed in a red t-shirt and khaki shorts.

"Where is she?" He asked coming through the door, with Mike and Hardy followed behind him. Spencer showed Ezra where the bathroom was and she left him alone to talk to her.

"What were you guys talking about that got her so upset?" Mike asked as they sat down in the common area of the barn.

"Well, we were talking about the baby, and she was okay, well as okay as can be expected. But then we were talking about what happened afterwards and she was so upset with herself over how she treated Ezra, and she got so upset and went to the bathroom and never came back." Hanna explained to the two boys.

"Do you think that she, ya know…" Mike trailed off, asking about if her eating disorder had returned.

"We don't know, but we figured, even if it is bad luck, Ezra was the only one who could fix it."

"Well I think you made the right decision texting him." Hardy offered.

Meanwhile

"Aria, it's me, are you okay?" Ezra knocked on the door. He could hear her in there, she was breathing heavy and coughing.

"Ezra, go away, you aren't supposed to see me before the wedding."

"Aria, I couldn't care less about the wedding right now. I just need to make sure you're okay." Ezra's voice was stern, but caring. The door was unlocked but she didn't open the door. Ezra turned the doorknob and slowly opened the door. He saw Aria on the floor, resting her head on the tile. Ezra closed the door behind him.

"Aria…what happened?" Ezra said as he stooped to the ground to be level with her. She just kept sobbing on the floor, so Ezra joined her. He put his body down on the tile and faced Aria. He rubbed her back until she calmed down enough to talk.

"We were talking about that day, and it wasn't even talking about it happening that got me upset. I got to talking about how I treated you after that happened and I realized that I was so wrong to do that to you. You were hurting just as much as I was, and it wasn't fair of me to say those things to you."

"Aria, I know that you didn't mean the things you said. You were upset, I know that. I forgive you." Ezra explained in a soothing voice. Aria continued to sob.

"I wanted to do it so bad, but that would've ruined all the progress we've made."

"Well that's good then, that you didn't. That's great. I'm so proud of you."

"You shouldn't be, I still wanted to."

"But you didn't. That's the point. Now, I want you to wipe those tears off your pretty face and get ready to marry me tonight. Because I can't wait to see you at sunset in that beautiful dress. Go get ready to make me the happiest, luckiest man in the world." Ezra pulled Aria up from the floor and kissed her on the forehead. Aria wiped her eyes and restrained herself from kissing him.

"We already broke the rule of not seeing each other today, so would it be so bad if I kissed you?" Aria joked as she grabbed both of his hands and put them in hers.

"I don't think so." Ezra gave in and cupped her face, kissing her with more passion than he ever had. They pulled apart after a few minutes and Ezra looked into Aria's hazel eyes before leaving the bathroom. He gathered Mike and Hardy and left, giving the girls a short explanation of "she's okay."

Aria emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later, her eyes a little red, but other than that she was fine. Before anyone got the question her, the doorbell rang. It was the stylists who were to do Aria's hair and makeup along with the other girls. All of the girls were getting their hair done first, then their makeup. All of the girls' makeup was done naturally, with only a little emphasis on their eyes. Hanna, Emily, and Spencer's hair was pulled back lightly from their faces, with their hair half up and half down. Aria's hair was completely up, in an elegant low bun, which her veil would be attached under. The dresses were already at the church, so when the limo arrived at 4:30, the girls were ready to go, although they looked a little funny because they were in sweat pants and yoga pants and t shirts. They all got in the limo and arrived at the church by 4:45. Ezra was in the parking lot when the girls pulled up, he was in his shorts and tshirt from earlier, grabbing something out of his car.

"Weird seeing you here." Aria joked as they got out of the limo. She was sipping from her coffee of course, since she wanted to be able to stay up for the reception.

"Yeah, did you know there's a wedding today?" He joked as he met her halfway through the parking lot.

"No, all I heard was that the bride is the luckiest girl in the world." She teased him back.

"Oh really? Well I'm sure whatever dork she's marrying knows that she's one in a million. Which bring me to this. This is for you, I wanted to have it waiting for you when you got up there, but you guys are a little early. Don't open it now though, open when you get up there. I love you Aria Montgomery." And with that, Ezra was off into the church while Aria smiled at her name. So many things had happened to her when she had that name. She lost one of her best friends, she fell in love with a guy she didn't think existed, she lost a baby, she fell in love all over again after that. That name treated her well. She had three best friends, a man she was about to call her husband, two parents who, even if they didn't love each other anymore, loved her infinitely, she had a brother who meant the world to her. The Montgomery chapter of her life was ending. The Fitz chapter was just about to begin and she could only hope that it brought her as much happiness as Montgomery had.

"Hello, Aria, do you want to get married today, or do you just want to stand in the parking lot." Spencer yelled, getting her attention. Aria followed the rest of the girls inside as she saw her parents and Mike pull into the church parking lot.

"We'll see you inside baby girl." Her father kissed her head, letting Aria go with her friends. The girls were in their dresses first, and then they helped Aria into hers.

"Holy crap guys, we look great!" Hanna was impressed, of course Arai would look great, but the rest of them were impressed at themselves.

"Aria, you look like an angel." Emily was the first to point out Aria's look.

"Yeah, Ezra's going to blow his load before the ceremony's even over." Hanna remarked.

"Oh, Hanna, of course you have to ruin a great moment with a dirty joke." Spencer scolded as the girls laughed.

"But in all seriousness. Ar, you look like a wife. Ali would be so proud of you." Spencer added.

"Thanks guys. Okay, no more crying today! I don't want to ruin my makeup!" Aria laughed as she wiped the tears from her eyes for the second time today. They all laughed and a knock was heard at the door. It was Byron and Ella.

"Hi girls, do you mind if we talk to Aria alone for a second?" The girls agreed and left the dressing room. They went to visit the boys.

"Aria, we just wanted to say that we are so proud of you." Ella started.

"Even though we weren't too keen on your relationship with Ezra at first, he has made you so happy, and we see that. You have made your mother and I the luckiest parents in the world with a daughter like you. You always have other people's best interest at heart and put hem before yourself. And for that, we will always love you. We raised you to be independent, and respectful and you have by far exceeded our expectations. We know that you're making the right choice." Byron continued.

"You have been though so much with Ezra to not be marrying him. And we know that when the time is right, you will make us the luckiest parents in the world for the second time and give us a grandchild. But no rush on that one!" Ella ended with a laugh to keep the conversation from getting too heavy.

"Thank you guys. If I had different parents, I definitely wouldn't be the person I am today. I would probably be getting ready to leave for college not getting married. But thank you, for letting me be with Ezra. I can be myself around him and so I will be forever grateful for you two for letting us be together." They finished with hugs all around.

"You look gorgeous baby." Ella hugged Aria, trying not to cry. It seemed like they were also ending a chapter of their lives today.

"You are the second most beautiful women on her wedding day." Byron told her, almost crying himself. They all knew he meant her mother, which made Aria happier than anything that her parents still loved each other deep down, even after all that had happened.

"You two taught me to believe in love and I'm glad that you two still can." And with that Aria was left alone in the dressing room. It was only a few minutes until Mike knocked at the door.

"You ready for pictures soon Ar? The guys just finished theirs." Mike said before opening the door.

"Yeah, I'm ready I think."

"Wow, Ar, you look beautiful."

"Really? You think so?"

"I'm positive. Ezra is one lucky guy, being able to spend the rest of his life with you. I would know, I spent my whole life with you and now you're going to be someone else's."

"Oh Mike, you know you'll always be my first roommate and my best friend." Aria hugged Mike, knowing he would struggle with her leaving him, even though she really wasn't. Mike nodded and led her out to the parking lot where the pictures would be taken. Ezra already had his pictures taken with his groomsmen and the girls, so he was inside, but the rest of the guys and the girls were waiting for her. He opened the door for her and they were overcame with the warm August air. They did a few pictures with just the girls and a few just Mike and Aria and a few with the groomsmen and Aria. The only thing left to shoot was the two of them together, which they would do after the ceremony. It was about 5:50 when the Hardy headed inside to stand at the front of the church with Ezra while the rest of the men waited outside to escort the girls inside. The doors at the back of the church led outside, so they all waited outside for the next ten minutes.

"Ezra, buddy, let me tell you one thing. You know me, and I'm a ladies man. I wasn't entirely sure how I felt about this wedding until just now, when I saw Aria outside. She loves you and you will probably piss your pants when you see her. I almost did." Hardy told Ezra as they walked in from the side of the church to the altar. Now Ezra was more nervous, everyone kept telling him how amazing Aria looked, and he almost couldn't contain himself. He just wanted to see her. See if she was wearing his present.

Aria was in fact wearing his present, it had been a gold necklace that was a small solid heart and on the back it said "a number never meant so much to me as this one. B-26." She was wearing the gold anklet he has gotten her for their anniversary last year, even though you couldn't see it. The photographer headed inside to get pictures of the groomsmen all standing up at the altar together. They were talking, but not facing each other, sharing a couple laughs to ease Ezra's nerves. Aria was feeling the same nerves when the doors opened and Emily headed out through them with Mike on her arm. Everyone turned around in their seats to see them. It seemed to Aria as if the whole town was there, and they pretty much were, all the teachers from school because Ezra knew them and Ella did also, all the professors from Hollis who Aria had known since she was little, nearly the entire graduated class of Rosewood High, the policemen who Aria had become familiar with due to the investigation of Alison's death. But today was a happy day, and no one spoke of that. She could see Emily's parents, Spencer's parents, even Hanna's dad was there. He wasn't sitting with Ashley of course, who was sitting near the front because Pastor Ted would be marrying them. She saw cousins and uncles and aunts. She knew that not everyone approved of their relationship but they came to be respectful. She would prove them wrong one day. Ezra and her would last, that she was sure of. Next, Hanna went through the doors with Caleb on her arm when Emily and Mike reached the end of the aisle, with Emily standing opposite of Hardy and Mike behind Hardy. Spencer and Caleb were next; when they left, Aria's stomach was about to flip. Her dad moved closer to her as her eyes began to fill with tears.

"It's now or never babe." Byron whispered to his only daughter. She nodded with a huge smile on her face. They weren't tears of sadness, but joy; she couldn't believe this was actually happening. The doors opened one final time to reveal Aria and her father. The crowd stood and turned around to look at her, but the only thing Aria could look at was Ezra. He looked so handsome in his tux, freshly shaven and a haircut. Aria could hear the camera's snapping, but she felt her eyes were glued to Ezra's.

Ezra's mind was fluttering, He couldn't even process how amazing Aria looked, he just knew that he had to keep looking at Aria because if he didn't, he might pass out of nervousness. Ezra could have watched her walk down the aisle forever, but he was eager for her to get to him at the end of the aisle. Ezra walked down the few steps to meet her while Byron kissed Aria on the cheek and gave Ezra a hug. They joined hands and walked up the few steps to pastor Ted.

"You are the most beautiful girl in the world Aria." Ezra whispered, even though everyone could hear him. Everyone was silent because they didn't want to miss a second of the ceremony. They were both all smiles as Pastor Ted began the ceremony.

"Today we are here to celebrate the union of Aria and Ezra in marriage. In the years they have been together, their love and understanding of each other has grown and matured, and now they have decided to live their lives together as husband and wife. Through their time together, they have come to realize that their personal dreams, hopes, and goals are less important than their mutual goals."

"True marriage is more than joining the bonds of marriage of two persons; it is the union of two hearts. It lives on the love you give each other and never grows old, but thrives on the joy of each new day. Marriage is love. May you always be able to talk things over, to confide in each other, to laugh with each other, to enjoy life together, and to share moments of quiet and peace, when the day is done. May you be blessed with a lifetime of happiness and a home of warmth and understanding. Always remember to treat yourselves and each other with respect, and remind yourselves often of what brought you together. Take responsibility for making the other feel safe, and give the highest priority to the tenderness, gentleness and kindness that your connection deserves. When frustration, difficulty and fear assail your relationship, as they threaten all relationships at some time or another, remember to focus on what is right between you, not just the part that seems wrong. In this way, you can survive the times when clouds drift across the face of the sun in your lives, remembering that, just because you may lose sight of it for a moment, does not mean the sun has gone away. And, if each of you takes responsibility for the quality of your life together, it will be marked by abundance and delight."

"May you always need one another, not to fill an emptiness, but to help each other know your fullness. May you want one another, but not out of lack. May you embrace one another, but not encircle one another. May you succeed in all important ways with each other, and not fail in the little graces. May you have happiness, and may you find it in making one another happy. May you have love, and may you find it in loving one another."

"No other human ties are more tender and no other vows more important than those you are about to take. Both of you come to this day with the deep realization that the contract of marriage is sacred as are all of its obligations and responsibilities. Now, I know both Aria and Ezra and I could continue to say a lot about them, but today I decide to listen." Pastor Ted finished and Aria began.

"Ezra, ever since the first day I met you, I've been curious about you. How one person can be so selfless and so generous at the same time. How one person manages to make me the happiest girl in the world. And I have yet to come to an answer. And in a way, I hope I never do, because that would mean that wouldn't be the person I know you as. You have treated me with the utmost respect. You're gentle, and you make me laugh as though no one ever could. And for that, I promise that I will love you forever, more than anyone else. And I promise to always try to be a girl who can make you laugh. And I promise to always stock the refrigerator with things other than limes." Aria said, her eyes filling with tears again as everyone laughed at the end.

"Aria, you made a number on a jukebox mean the world to me. I fell in love with you to B-26. Before you, my life had no purpose, I was just going through the motions. That is until I met you. You changed my life forever and for that I will be forever grateful. In the beginning, we were more bad than we were good. But it didn't matter because when I was with you, I knew I was a better person because of it. You make me want to be a better person. You make me want to strive to do better, hoping that one day I can finally be good enough for you because I got lucky that day you met me. Because you deserve someone who is flawless. And I know I can't promise you that I will be flawless, but I can promise you that I will do everything in my power to try to be. I promise to always have your best interests at heart. I promise that I will always give you side of the bed with the most covers because I know you secretly want them, but you never ask. I promise to make you breakfast in bed when you're sick. I promise to never take you for granted. Ever."

"Do you Aria, take Ezra, to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish through whatever challenges you may face together from this day forward until death do you part?" Pastor Ted asked as Aria was given Ezra's ring from Spencer.

"I do." She said as she slid Ezra's ring on his left hand. Her smile couldn't have gotten any bigger.

"And Ezra, do you take Aria to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and the cherish through whatever challenges you may face together from this day forward until death do you part?" Hardy handed him the ring that Aria and Ezra had picked out together, it was just a simple silver band because her engagement ring was so nice.

"I wouldn't have it any other way." HE slid the ring onto her left hand as he began to get anxious to kiss her for the first time as his wife.

"Then with the power vested in me by the state of Pennsylvania I hereby pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss your bride."

"Thank God." Ezra said as he rushed over to kiss her. He lifted her small frame in the air to kiss her as the audience laughed and applauded. They kissed for a few seconds before he put her down.

"For the first time ever, I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Ezra Fitz!" Aria and Ezra turned to face the audience as they headed down the aisle, smiling at the many members in attendance. When they were outside of the church they kissed again.

"We're finally married, can you believe it!" Ezra was ecstatic as he picked Aria up again to kiss her once again. Aria couldn't believe she had gone this long with out marrying Ezra because she was now the happiest girl ever.


	23. Chapter 23

When All Else Fails

After the couple took their photos for their wedding album, they finally arrived at the reception in the Montgomery's backyard. It was held inside a tent, with a dance floor and everything. The DJ announced their arrival to the crowd and Aria and Ezra walked in holding hands. It was time for their first dance. Their choice of song surprised no one because they tell everyone the story behind it. B-26.

_Happiness is just outside my window _

_Would it crash blowing 80-miles an hour? _

_Or is happiness a little more like knocking _

_On your door, and you just let it in? _

The song wasn't very romantic, but it meant so much to both Aria and Ezra that they couldn't have picked another song. It just wouldn't have been right. Aria held onto Ezra's body, never wanting to let go.

_Happiness feels a lot like sorrow _

_Let it be, you can't make it come or go _

_But you are gone- not for good but for now _

_Gone for now feels a lot like gone for good _

"You saved me, you know?"

"Hmm?" Ezra couldn't see Aria because she was pressed up against his body so he pulled her away from him slightly to face her and understand her.

_Happiness is a firecracker sitting on my headboard _

_Happiness was never mine to hold _

_Careful child, light the fuse and get away _

'_Cause happiness throws a shower of sparks _

"Who knows where I would be now without you. You save me time and time again Mr. Fitz."

"You're worth saving. Every single time."

_Happiness damn near destroys you _

_Breaks your faith to pieces on the floor _

_So you tell yourself, that's enough for now _

_Happiness has a violent roar _

The newlyweds kissed near the end of the song, reminiscing in all of their memories to this song.

_Happiness is like the old man told me _

_Look for it, but you'll never find it all _

_Let it go, live your life and leave it _

_Then one day, wake up and she'll be home _

_Home, home, home_

Everyone clapped as the song was over and everyone went back to dancing and mingling. They danced to many songs, some funny, and some romantic. The only songs they made sure the DJ played were Happiness, of course, Then by Brad Paisley, I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing by Aerosmith, Angel by Robbie Williams, A Thousand Years by Christina Perri, Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton, Love Remains The Same by Gavin Rossdale, Best Days by Graham Colton, Collide by Howie Day, You & Me by Lifehouse, Wedding Dress by Matt Nathanson, I Dare You To Move by Snow Patrol, Amazed by Lonestar, Have A Little Faith In Me by John Hiatt, and Your Guardian Angel by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. Aria was in charge of the music selection because that wasn't really Ezra's thing. Soon it was time for the father-daughter dance and mother-son dance. The song was Time by Hootie and the Blowfish. Ezra's family had come to the wedding, though they were a little hesitant at first. It was the first time Ezra's father had met Aria. He was the total opposite of Diane. He loved Aria and Aria could now see where Ezra got his grace. Wes was a groomsmen, so he of course, was there, too. Diane was actually having a good time and was happy for her son and Aria. She knew that she would have to make a bigger effort to be nice to Aria now, but she didn't have a problem with that. After they danced for a while, Aria danced with Ezra's father and Ezra danced with Ella. Everyone was having a great time so far and they hadn't even eaten yet! Dinner was served soon after that, which meant it was time for speeches. The girls went first, all together.

"Hello, so for those of you who don't know us, I'm Spencer, and this is Emily and Hanna, and we're Aria's best friends. Aria first off, we wanted to say how proud we are of you. Over the past few years, we have watched you deal with things that most people don't experience in a lifetime. We all lost a best friend a few years ago, right around this time actually. And it has taken years to figure out what happened and Aria you are one of the most calm rational people I know because you handled all of those things with grace and class."

"And even the times that you weren't so graceful you were still hilarious, Noel Kahn's Halloween party 2011 anybody?" Hanna asked as most of the senior class started laughing, remembering a time that Aria was completely wasted. Aria blushed and looked down as everyone assumed what had happened. Of course her friends would bring that up.

"So what friends would we be if we didn't embarrass you a little bit?" Emily asked as the audience started to laugh and Aria knew she was in for it. Ezra was laughing, but Aria was really embarrassed. A slide show started to play of the girls throughout their lives. They might have been the worst pictures Aria had ever seen. They even managed to get the picture from the bachelor/bachelorette parties in there. Everyone laughed and Ezra started to blush now that he was being targeted.

"In all seriousness though, Aria, you are the strongest girl we know. And from watching you and Ezra be together the past two years, we know there is no one better for you than Ezra. We love you both." The girls toasted after the slide show ended. Everyone got a good laugh out of the girls' speech, and now it was Hardy's turn.

"I met Ezra when we were in college together. And to sum it up, he ruined my romantic life for four years. This dork laughs in his sleep. So whenever I would finally get a girl back into our room, this guy would start laughing and scare them away! Every single one of them!" People were now laughing at Ezra's expense.

"So when Ezra told me he had a girl he wanted me to meet. I thought 'this is perfect. He is never going to see that girl again after I meet her.' But after many attempts to scare Aria aware, maybe even steal her away, she has stayed by his side. She lasted through my attempts to scare her away, so I'm positive she isn't going anywhere. Aria, you deserve so much better than this bastard! And if you ever realize that, you know who to call." Aria was laughing so hard at the end of Hardy's speech and Ezra was rolling his eyes playfully. Mike was up next.

"Ezra, I know I'm a bit late, but I figured I should put together a list of things I've learned about Aria through my years of living and sharing a bathroom with her." Aria knew this was going to be a good one.

"Number one, also the most important because I learned the hard way with this one. Do not touch her donuts. She will eat your hand off if you touch those things." Ezra laughed because he had also made that mistake.

"Number two, she has a habit of talking about golf in her sleep. I don't know why, but it's always golf. I've never seen Aria play golf a day in her life. Number three, if you take her bath toys, she will hit you over the head with a different one. I still have the scar to prove that one. Number four, don't tell her to calm down. She doesn't like that one. Number five, she will dance to *NSYNC, but if you catch her she will swear up and down that wasn't what she was doing. Now I have a separate list sort of. Number one, she's sensitive, so don't hurt her. Number two, she will say some mean things, but she never means them. Number three, never let her go to bed angry because she will wake up still mad at you. Number four is probably the most important thing I've learned in my sixteen years of living with Aria. No matter how big of a dick you are to her, she will always love you no matter what. Now that doesn't give you permission to be a dick, but I've had my days and she can always make my day better. So love her, respect her, and be grateful for everything she does, because she does it all for you." Mike smiled at Ezra and hugged Aria because she was crying because of all the nice words he had said about her. Wes was the last to give a speech.

"It's been a while since I've lived with Ezra, so I don't think my speech can quite live up tot hat one." Wes started with a joke.

"But when we were younger, Ezra and I picked on each other a lot, we were brothers, of course we did. But I always looked up to him. He was my older brother and I wanted to be exactly like him. The day he left for college, I was 15. And I was sad. Not just because he was leaving me alone with our mother, because trust me I was sad about that too, but because I wouldn't get to spend every day with my brother. I would have to figure out who I was on my own. I didn't know whose footsteps to follow in now. In his years after college, Ezra seemed to be lacking his usual enthusiasm about life, he was getting beaten down on the job search, and he was worn out from the countless all-nighters at college. Then he called one day. He was back to his usual self and I asked him, what's changed? And he said I met this girl Wes. That was all he had to say for me to know that he had found the girl he would spend the rest of his life with. So Aria, thank you for giving me old Ezra back. Because without that, I still wouldn't know whom to look up to, but now I do. And that will always be my older brother." Wes finished and hugged his brother, getting a scolding look from his mother about the comment he made about her in his speech.

After dinner, Aria remembered she still had to throw her bouquet though. Hanna caught it, to no one's surprise. Caleb just rolled his eyes. Of course she caught it. Then it was time for Ezra to remove Aria's garter from her leg. Ezra gave her a seductive smile and Aria just laughed because they were in front of so many people, including both their parents. Ezra had to scoot forward a little but he eventually got it. He flung it behind him and no one even challenged Caleb for it. Caleb thought he would be funny and not catch it, so he instead let it hit the ground.

"Hey, you should all be mauling each other for that thing!" Hanna protested. Caleb laughed and picked it up and swung it around on his finger. He put it on Hanna and everyone cheered.

"We are not next." Caleb warned jokingly. Hanna just thought the whole thing was too funny. Soon, it was time for the couple to cut the cake. They made sure the photographer was ready when they sliced the cake together. It was a cinnamon cake with cream cheese icing.

"Don't you dare get any cake on this dress Ezra Fitz!" Aria warned him as he just grinned. He smashed the cake into her face as she did the same to him. After that, it was time for the couple to leave. Everyone wished them well on their way out and they got into the limo that the girls had arrived in to take them back home. There would be no honeymoon since there really wasn't time for one. They arrived at apartment 3B and Ezra unlocked the door and picked Aria up to carry her across the threshold. Both stopped in their tracks when they saw what was in front of them.

"Did you do this?" Aria asked him looking around in disbelief.

"No, I had no idea!" They looked around and finally found a note among the candles and rose petals that covered their apartment.

"For all you've done for us –Em, Spence, Han, Caleb, Toby, Paige" Ezra read from the paper before looking around at the rest of the apartment.

"Oh my word, that's so sweet of them. Well we probably shouldn't waste this nice ambiance." Aria raised her eyebrow at him as they raced back into the bedroom.

"I love you so much Aria Fitz." Ezra said in between kisses.

"Say that again." Arai pulled away from him, breathless.

"Aria. Fitz." That drove Aria crazy and she couldn't wait any longer to consummate their marriage.


	24. Chapter 24

When All Else Fails

A month had passed since the wedding and both Ezra and Aria were enjoying married life. They didn't get as many strange stares on the streets anymore, but the occasional "congratulations." Everyone in town knew about the wedding because if they weren't invited, they knew someone who was. Not everyone approved, but many were coming around to the idea of an 18 year old married to a 24 year old who is her former English teacher. Aria had started at Hollis a few weeks ago and was actually enjoying it. She got to eat lunch with her husband and the classes weren't too challenging, but they weren't easier either. Aria had to work for her good grades, but she had a lot of free time she didn't expect to have. A lot of her new friends were surprised that she was married so young, but once they got to know her and Ezra, they weren't as surprised anymore. They were the kind of couple that was destined to be together. In the process of the new school year starting, they had moved from their small apartment. Not because they were starting a family right away, but because they needed more space now that they were married and living together permanently. The house was nothing huge, not yet at least; they planned on either moving when they became a little more financially stable, or at least expanding. It was the perfect starter house for them. Tonight, Ezra was hosting an English department mixer at their house, since he was so new, he wanted to get to know everyone a little more.

"Aria, I'm going to the store to get a few extra things I forgot. Do you need anything?" Ezra asked Aria through the bathroom door.

"Yes actually! And I know you're going to hate me for this, but I promise, it's a good thing!" Ezra just groaned, only imagining what she could want him to get.

"I need tampons, but it's good because I haven't even gotten my period since, you know, the baby, so things are at least getting back to normal." Aria teased him and Ezra just looked at her with disbelief on his face.

"This may or may not be where I draw the line."

"Please Ez, you're going out anyway. It's pointless for us both to go out, it's your husbandly duty now. Plus I have to keep cleaning for this party you insisted on having a month after we moved!"

"You're lucky I love you." Aria smiled as he walked out the door with his list in his hands. It wasn't until he got to the grocery store that he realized that he had no idea what Aria even meant. He knew the difference between certain feminine products, but there was too much variety. He got all of the other things he needed first, then he ventured down _that_ aisle. He looked at all the different packages.

"This aisle's like a freaking rainbow…" Ezra muttered to himself, bewildered. He decided he would have to call Aria. Of course though, it went to voicemail.

"First you send me on this wild goose chase for these things and you don't even tell me what kind exactly you want. This is not funny Aria Fitz. I'm pretty embarrassed, I've been standing here for a good ten minutes and people are probably thinking I'm a creeper. Call me back." Ezra laughed as he left the message. He heard someone laugh behind him as he leaned on his cart to try texting Aria.

"Newbie. You'll learn, don't worry. It only gets worse when you have a daughter." Ezra turned around to see Byron standing in the same aisle as he.

"Don't even go there yet." Ezra rolled his eyes, a little embarrassed at the situation he was caught in.

"Tip #1: If they don't specify, go neutral." Byron picked up a brand that seemed generic that said regular on it.

"But just so you know, Aria likes these ones." Byron continued, picking out the right package for Aria. Ezra looked at him surprised that he remembered this.

"It wasn't too long ago she was living in my house. At least you get this job now. You think it's bad enough to buy them for your wife, it only gets worse buddy." Ezra and Byron laughed at their situation as Byron picked out the kind Ella asked for. This had become a usual routine for them.

"So do you want us to bring anything over later?" Byron asked his son-in-law as they checked out.

"No, I should be fine, I hope at least. Aria's making a lot of food so we'll see." Byron told Ezra he would see him at their new house later and Ezra got in his car and headed off to the wine & spirits store. He grabbed a few bottles of wine and was heading back home around 3 in the afternoon. When he arrived with all his groceries, Aria greeted him with wet hair.

"Hey, how'd it go?"

"Did you not get my message?"

"No, I just got out of the shower, what's up?"

"Oh, it was perfect. If you thought it was bad enough that I had to get _these _for you, how do you feel about your father picking them out?" Ezra could only laugh at the slightly awkward encounter as he put her tampons on the counter.

"That didn't happen! Oh my God, that's great!" Aria was laughing so hard as she helped Ezra unload the groceries. It would be a long time before Ezra did that for her again.

Around 6, people started arriving and Ezra was greeting people as Aria finished getting ready upstairs. She finally came down wearing a black cocktail dress that ended at the mid thigh. Since she was short, she could pull that look off without looking promiscuous. Her hair was swept up into a low bun and She wore a dark purple pair of peep toe pumps.

"You look hot." Ezra whispered as she met his coworkers. Aria shushed him, not wanting to embarrass themselves, but appreciating the compliment.

"Dan, this is my wife, Aria Montgomery." She shook his hand, along with his wife's.

"Oh, any relation to Byron Montgomery?"

"A little too much. Hi Honey." Byron greeted his daughter, kissing her on the cheek.

"You look wonderful baby." Ella said as she came up behind Byron.

"To answer your question, yes there is a relation. He's my father." Aria laughed as the crowd laughed at the coincidence.

"Oh, is that how you two met?" Dan, a man between Ezra and Byron's age, asked.

"Not exactly." Aria said, looking to Ezra to see what direction he wanted to go with this one.

"We met one day when I was straight out of college. And then I was her English teacher. And then I finally quit teaching at Rosewood so I could be with her." Ezra said proudly, not ashamed of their back story.

"We definitely weren't happy about that one at first." Ezra was glad that Byron could now joke about that tense period when they hated him for what he had done.

"But now we love Ezra as our own, don't we honey?" Ella interjected.

"Why yes we do." Byron obliged, laughing along with their new friends.

"We've been married a month now. And let me tell you, if you've seen how dirty his office is, it's only the start. If it weren't for me, he'd be living in scum the rest of his life." Aria teased while going to check on things in the kitchen, asking if she could get anyone anything. She came back minutes later with a few glasses of wine and then went to answer the door.

"Jackie…" Aria said, not knowing she would be coming to this event.

"Hello Aria. Mommy and Daddy drag you along again?" Jackie shoved her way in past Aria.

"No actually, I was kind of here anyway because this is my house. Well mine and _my husband's." _Aria made sure to emphasize the husband part so Jackie knew what she was dealing with.

"Is that even legal? Aren't you like fifteen? Are you pregnant?" Jackie asked in disbelief.

"Yes it's legal, no, I'm eighteen, and no, I'm not pregnant." Aria was shocked at how outwardly rude Jackie was being with everyone else around, able to hear her.

"Oh, what happened to that? Did you finally realize that the man you were having a baby with would never stick around?" Jackie whispered so no one could hear her. Aria knew she couldn't let Jackie get to her, but that was a low blow. Aria excused herself from the group and went up the stairs. She wouldn't let Jackie see her cry. She wouldn't let her have that satisfaction. She entered her room and locked the door behind her. She took a few calming breaths before checking her makeup in the mirror. Of course Jackie had to come and ruin things for them.

Downstairs, Ezra watched Jackie come in the door and exchange some words he couldn't hear with Aria. He then watched his wife walk up the stairs. He was confused because she didn't seem upset, but he knew she had to be if Jackie was here. He went to go after her, but Ella stopped him.

"You stay here, it's your party, I'll go check on her." Ella knocked on Aria and Ezra's bedroom door, waiting for a response.

"Aria, it's mom, can I come in." She heard a yeah and felt the door unlock. Ella opened the door and saw Aria adjusting her dress and putting on new mascara.

"You can't let her get to you baby."

"Why would he not tell me that she was coming, at least then I could've been prepared."

"Aria, he seemed just as shocked as you were. Now listen to me: Ezra picked you. If he wanted her, he would have picked her. But he didn't. You have that man's heart wrapped around your finger. He bought you tampons in public today, he loves you that much! I still have to basically beg your father to do that for me." Ella laughed along with Aria. The pair headed back down to the party as Aria grabbed a glass of wine from the kitchen.

"God I hate Jackie…" She mumbled to herself, taking a few sips of wine. She would need more than a few to get through this night.

"Stay away from her Jackie." Ezra muttered in a warning tone, so no one could hear him.

"It's not my fault you have bad taste in women."

"Is that why I dated you? Because I've been racking my brain for an explanation as to why in the world I ever did that."

"Ezra, you wanted to marry me, you felt these feelings that you have towards Aria now towards me before. And now I feel them back. We can be happy together finally. And at least I'm your age. Is she even out of middle school yet?"

"Jackie, let me make this completely clear to you. Proposing to you was the worst mistake of my life. When I was with you, I thought I was in love with you, but you were only into yourself. I never loved you and never will love you. When I met Aria, I realized what love is. And trust me, whatever we had, was not love. I love Aria with everything there is of me and you are not going to take that away from me. Now you need to leave. You aren't welcome here anymore." Ezra showed her towards the doorway so she could leave and Aria caught her eye on the way out and gave her a look that said "I won bitch, now back off."

They did this without creating a scene. That was the last thing they wanted. Aria was moving hor d'oeurves from the oven to serving platters while trying to entertain a group of about thirty people in their small house. Aria was pretty sure she was making herself look like a fool because she was searching through all the cabinets for small things like salt.

"Sorry, we just moved, like two weeks ago. I still haven't found a place for anything." Aria apologized to the group who had sat down at various places to mingle with each other.

"Hey did you get a chance to eat?" Ezra asked when he ran into her in the kitchen.

"Not yet, I'm still checking on these." Aria said grabbing an oven mitt and opening the hot door.

"Babe relax, sit down and eat something. Talk to some people." Ezra instructed her, taking the oven mitt from her.

"I'm completely relaxed Ezra, I just don't want these to catch on fire, now scooch." Aria nudged him out of the way to get to the oven. She burned her hand in the process.

"Shit." Aria dropped the whole plate of mini quiches and ran to put her hand under cold water at the sink.

"Are you okay? You have to be more careful next time." Ezra checked the burn and got an ice pack out of the freezer. Both ended up laughing at how strange the whole situation was.

"Look at them Byron, did you ever imagine this day would come? That your daughter would be married to a colleague living her own life?" One of Byron's younger coworkers asked, who had three young daughters.

"Well I definitely didn't expect it to be this soon. But as long as she's happy, which it seems she is, I'm okay with it. He takes great care of her. Better than it seemed Ella and I did at one point. And that's a hard thing to admit as a father. But even though your days may seem hectic now, trust me, when your girls leave the house, when they leave you for some boy who might break her heart, there's nothing that can prepare you for that. You just have to cherish the moments you have together now and everything will work out."

"There comes a point in every father's life when your little girl comes home with a boy and you know she isn't your little girl anymore. They grow up way too fast. My daughters already been through so much already, good and bad, and I've tried, but I could never be there for her like Ezra could. That's how I knew they were making the right decision getting married." Byron told as a group formed around him.

"Whatcha talking about hun?" Ella approached the group, leaning into her husband.

"Just bragging about Aria, of course."

"You know we do have another child right?"

"Yeah, but he's still at home. I see him all the time." Byron laughed at the thought of Mike going off the college next year and then Ella and him would be empty nesters. But maybe by then they would have a grandchild to fill up the house.

"Aria grew up with such a personality that was extremely mature for her age, even when she was younger, but she had such ambitious dreams and goals that gave her a youthful sense to her. The memories that we made with her and Mike when they were little, she'll be making those memories soon too, and damn, it is the hardest thing I've ever had to deal with. But that means that we get to make memories with grandbabies now." Ella added in.

"Really? That soon you think? They still are so young. They should enjoy just being married for a while." One of Byron's coworkers wife's interjected.

"Aria was meant to be a mom. And in a way she was a mom. They say that women become moms when they learn they're pregnant and they really struggled when they lost the baby. They almost didn't survive it together. It broke our hearts watching theirs break over something so special. But when the times right, they'll try again. I'm sure of that. They're both so strong, but to go through something like that, neither Byron or I could relate, we'd never lost a child like they had." Byron said solemnly as the group listened intently for juicy gossip about the pair that the whole town had been fishing for. They made sure to stay quiet because they were sure that neither Ezra nor Aria would be too happy with her parents for disclosing such personal information at a dinner party.

Eventually everyone left their house and they collapsed in a ball on the couch. It was a Saturday night, but they were extremely tired from their hosting duties. Aria got up and started cleaning up from their party.

"You don't have to do that now!" Ezra said as he walked up behind her at the sink.

"And what, wait until they get gross and do them tomorrow? I'd rather get them out of the way." Aria started to rinse off dishes.

"Or, we could leave these to soak and finish the half empty bottles of wine." Ezra smirked at her, giving her a seductive look.

"Well Mr. Fitz, I'm pretty sure that would be condoning underage consumption."

"You know what else I condoned?" Ezra asked as he and Aria took turns sipping the leftover wine. Aria gave him a look of confusion.

"I believe there was a short time period when I condoned underage sex and a teacher-student relationship." Ezra whispered in her ear as he slid his hand up her thigh until he hit the hem of her dress.

"Well, now you don't have to condone either of those because I'm not underage and I'm not your student anymore. So you know what that means? Aria hopped up on the kitchen counter with her wine glass still in her hand. She wrapped her legs around Ezra's body that took the spot between her legs.

"What exactly does that mean Ms. Montgomery?" Ezra played along with her teasing and he pushed his body closer to hers.

"That means that you can have as much sex with me as you want. And it's the most legal thing there is."

"Oh really now?" Ezra's mouth was inching closer to hers by the second, but he felt the need to tease her a little first. He skipped her mouth and went straight for her neck, a spot he knew she loved.

"Ezra…" Aria moaned as he teased her. She was very in the mood and he was going to take full advantage of it. He bit her lip and slipped his tongue into the inside of her lip. Aria bit her own lip out of sexual frustration. Ezra pulled away and Aria lunged at him. She grabbed him and pulled his body onto hers as she laid down on the island countertop. Ezra climbed on top of her and pushed the baskets of food onto the floor to make room for their bodies. Aria breath was hot on Ezra's body as she began to remove Ezra's tie and his button up shirt. Aria flipped them over the climbed on top of Ezra. She took his shirt off and kissed his collarbone. She lightly bit the skin there because she knew that Ezra loved that. It was her turn to tease now. Ezra took it as long as he could until he finally unzipped her dress. He slid her out of it to see her in her black lace bra and thong. He loved that combination on her. Black was so sexy, he thought. Aria unbuttoned his pants and slid her hand down his boxers, continuing to tease him. He groaned and she took his pants off. He slid his own boxers off and needed to get Aria's garments off as well. He slid her out of them and knew he needed to be with Aria right there, right now, on the island counter. It was time they broke in the new house anyway.

They awoke the next morning in bed, after going for three times. Both were too exhausted to get out of bed, so they stayed in bed for a while, watching tv and snuggling. It was Sunday and they had nothing to do that day so they spent most of the day in bed just lounging around.

Monday rolled around and Ezra left the house around 7, but Aria didn't have to be on campus until 11, so she slept in. She was still exhausted from their exercise on Saturday night so she really enjoyed the extra sleep. She awoke well rested and had an idea that would put Ezra right to sleep tonight. She put on a lace camisole under a regular tank top and put fun panties on and wore her jeans overtop. She put flats on and a sweater. She left the house around 10:30 and drove to campus. Her class ended at 12:15, the time that Ezra had lunch. He usually waited for her, so she knew neither of them would have any lunch today. She stuck her head in the door to his office and saw that he was alone. She continued into his office and waited until he looked up with her.

"Hey." He glanced from his papers for a second to smile at her.

"I'm really busy, I hope you don't mind if I grade some papers while we eat."

"Yeah, I don't care if you grade papers, but I didn't think we'd be getting a lot of eating in." Aria smiled seductively.

"Why is it so hot in here?" Aria asked before taking off her sweater.

"Aren't you hot?" She asked him while biting her lip. She started to unzip her tank top while she waited for his response.

"I- I am now." Ezra stuttered to get his words out. He couldn't believe she was doing this, something so scandalous. It really turned him on.

"I've been thinking that the hours we spend alone in our home isn't quite enough alone time. How do you lock this thing?" Aria walked over to the door, and tried to lock it after she pulled the shade down over the window.

"Uh, it doesn't lock." Ezra couldn't even think of anything else to say. Aria would have to make do with what she had so she put a chair up against the door in a barricade fashion. Aria took her tank top off and was left in her lace camisole.

"Oh man." Ezra muttered out, knowing there was no turning back now. Aria waltzed over to him and grabbed his face. He willingly kissed her back full force.

After making out for a few seconds, Ezra came to a realization.

"I-I have a class in fifteen minutes." He was concerned they would get caught. Aria just smiled.

"That's plenty of time." She said before her lips crashed back into his. He was getting into it before he had another thought.

"Maybe this isn't such a good idea." He pulled away from her lips.

"Well I think that you spend entirely too much time thinking. Don't you think?" Aria asked loosening his tie. He knew he was in too deep now; he couldn't stop. Ezra eagerly nodded his head and led them to the couch in his office. Aria pulled her hair back in to a ponytail to prepare for what they were about to do.

"Aria, we can do this at home. Are you sure you don't want to wait?" Ezra double checked.

"I'm sure." She grinned and took full advantage of their fifteen minutes.


	25. Chapter 25

When All Else Fails

It was November, almost thanksgiving time, when Aria and Ezra felt they were finally all moved in. They decided that since it was their first thanksgiving as a married couple, they would host thanksgiving. Her parents and Mike were coming, along with Hanna, Caleb, Spencer, and Toby. Emily couldn't make it because she had to stay at school since they had swimming everyday for three hours. They two couples promised to stop by at least, they may not make the meal though, but they would definitely visit. They hadn't seen each other since they all left for college, but they had definitely kept in touch.

The week before thanksgiving Aria still had to go get everything from the store, they had ordered the turkey, of course, but she still had to get potatoes for mashed potatoes and corn and things like that.

"Hey Ez, do you want to go with me to the store? I could really use your help." Aria put her jacket on because the Pennsylvania weather was around 40 degrees if they were lucky this time of year.

"Is it okay if I skip this one? I don't feel too great, I've got a headache so I think I'm going to take a little nap if you don't mind." Ezra told her, getting up from his spot where he was napping on the couch. Aria nodded and felt bad for even asking. Ezra hadn't been feeling too well the past couple of days and had been napping constantly it felt like. She felt awful for feeling this way, and would never tell him, but she was a little annoyed because she really could have used the help cleaning the house and cooking and getting ready. Aria kissed him on his head and left the house. She got her necessities and when she arrived home, Ezra was asleep on the couch still. Aria quietly put the groceries away and got out the cleaning supplies from under the sink. She started to clean the kitchen first, then the dining room. She moved onto the living room, but avoided the family room because she didn't want to wake Ezra. He's done so much for her, this was the least she could do. She vacuumed the basement and mopped the kitchen, even though she knew she would just make a mess out of it tomorrow. She made dinner and woke Ezra when it was time to eat. He had to put his glasses on because he couldn't see well, and he never wore his glasses. It was a nice change.

"So how was your day?" Aria asked Ezra, who had been pretty quiet.

"Uhh, it was half color do it in uhh-"

"Ezra! Are you okay? You can't form a comprehensive sentence!" Ezra just kind of nodded his head and closed his eyes for a second before speaking.

"I'm okay, I think I'm just going to go to bed though." It was a good thing that it was fall break for the students so Ezra had time to rest. Aria worked on some schoolwork before heading to bed with her husband.

The next week was filled with much of the same, Aria preparing for thanksgiving while Ezra rested. He scheduled a doctor's appointment for two days before Thanksgiving. It was the day of his appointment and Aria had to work, so she couldn't go with him. She had gotten a part time job at the library so they didn't have to rely on just Ezra's income. The appointment was at 11, but Ezra did not get home until around 4.

"Hey, I was beginning to get worried, how was the appointment?" Aria was going through the mail when Ezra arrived home.

"It was okay, they took blood, and did a bunch of tests, like CT scan and an MRI. They said they'll call me when they get the results, they just don't want me driving until then. They said it could be nothing though." Ezra said nonchalantly. Aria nodded and began to see what she could make for dinner.

"We could have ravioli? Does that sound okay?" Aria offered.

"Yeah, I'm not too hungry, but I'll eat a little." Aria was becoming worried about Ezra because these symptoms have lasted a long time, and he wasn't even hungry anymore. Around 5:30, Aria started to make dinner. She went to get Ezra when it was ready at six, but she found him asleep in bed. She decided not to wake him and to just let him sleep, so she ate by herself. The home phone started to ring and Aria looked at the caller ID before answering, it was the doctor's office.

"Hello?" Aria was eager to hear what the doctor had to say.

"Hello, is Mr. Fitz there?" Aria decided this was a just cause to wake him. She replied and went to wake him.

"Hello?" Ezra asked when he awoke.

"Hi, Mr. Fitz, this is Dr. Casella, we got your test results back earlier and after doubling checking the results, it looks like you do have a tumor pressing on your brain. Now, that is no reason to panic at all. These things are treated all the time and frequently don't even need to be removed. We would like you to come in tomorrow to see if it is benign or malignant and then we will go from there, is a 10 am appointment okay?"

"Um, yeah, that sounds fine, thank you doctor." Ezra hung up the phone.

"What did he say?" Aria asked almost immediately.

"I have to go in tomorrow, he said that I have a brain tumor?" Ezra said more confused than anything.

"What? A brain tumor? How could this happen? What does this mean? What happen ne –"

"Aria, he said it's no reason to panic, these things happen all the time and don't have to be removed a lot. That's why I'm going in tomorrow." Ezra interrupted her rant.

"I'm going with you."

"Don't you have to work?"

"I'll get someone to work for me. I want to go." Ezra knew there was no point in arguing with her because she was so stubborn.

"Well I made dinner, but you were sleeping so I didn't want to wake you, but since you're up, do you want me to heat you up some?" Aria instantly felt awful about how she was a little annoyed at Ezra for not helping her around the house lately, but now that she knew how serious it could be, she felt horrible. Ezra nodded and got up to follow her into the kitchen.

"What are you doing?"

"I thought you said I could eat dinner…" Ezra was confused by her questioning.

"I'll bring it to you."

"Aria, I'm fine, I promise, I can go to the kitchen to eat dinner." Aria agreed hesitantly.

"So did the doctor say anything else? Like potentially treatment?"

"He just said we'd discuss it tomorrow." Aria got the raviolis out of the microwave and placed them in front of Ezra who was intent on eating them. He began devouring, but stopped after a few minutes because he could feel a pair of eyes on him.

"What, do I have food on my face?"

"No, what I can't look at you anymore?"

"It's a pity look Aria. I'm fine, okay? I'm not going to keel over and die." Ezra joked, but Aria's eyes started to water.

"Ar, I was joking, I'm going to be okay! Everything's going to be okay!"

"How can you say that though? You don't know that everything is going to be okay! How are you so calm! The doctor just said you have a brain tumor!"

"He also said that this happens a lot more frequently than I would think and that it may not have to be removed! Aria, let's just not be worried until we know something, okay?" Ezra comforted Aria from over the counter.

How could they go from going skiing a week ago to now Ezra possibly having brain cancer? Aria was so worried but she didn't want to show Ezra just how scared she was. He had always been strong for her, so now she had to be for him.

"You're right," Aria wiped her eyes, "so do you want to go back to bed?" Ezra shook his head.

"I'm not really tired right now, I slept a lot today, why don't we watch a movie?"

"Yeah okay, you go pick a movie and I'll put this in the dishwasher." Aria couldn't help but let her mind wander to health insurance. Sure, they weren't poor, but they weren't rolling in the dough either. If Ezra did have something that was more serious than the doctor led on, how would they be able to pay for it? They had insurance through Ezra's job, but she wandered how much that would cover. She went into the family room to see Ezra half lounging on the couch, but leaving enough room for her. She sat down on the open portion of the couch, right in Ezra's arms, but she made sure not too lean too much on him.

"You aren't going to break me Aria, I'm fine, really. Hey, look at me, I'm fine." Ezra reassured as he browsed the movies on demand. He decided on No Strings Attached because he knew it was one of Aria's favorites. They fell asleep that night cuddled on the couch.

The next morning they both woke up a little sore from falling asleep on he couch. They showered and got ready for Ezra's appointment.

"You ready?" Aria asked, taking a breath before asking. Ezra nodded and they both left, a little worried about what lies ahead of them.

"Hello Ezra, I'm assuming you're Aria?" The doctor asked when they were taken back into an examination room. Aria nodded and the doctor went on to comment on how frequently Ezra talked about her.

"So first off, we're going to do a biopsy to see if the tumor is benign or malignant and we'll go from there. We'll probably be here for awhile, so make yourselves comfortable." The doctor informed them as he took out a large needle. He let the two relax as he went to deliver it to the lab. Ezra was sitting on the hospital bed in his gown when the doctor came back. They didn't have the results yet, but they wanted to talk about his options.

"So Ezra, this is Dr. Holier, he specializes in neurosurgery should you have to have your tumor removed. He is one of the best in the country, so you are in good hands. You three can consult when the results of your biopsy are in, but in the meantime, why don't you get dressed and you can wait in my office for the results, that sound okay?" Aria and Ezra nodded. They followed the doctor's instructions and waited alone in his office. About fifteen minutes went by and Ezra's hands were getting sweaty.

"It's going to be okay, I promise you that. No matter what those results say, we're going to be okay." Aria kissed kiss hand, which she was holding. Both Dr. Casella and Dr. Holier walked in shortly after.

"Alright guys, we have the test results," Dr. Casella sat in his chair while Dr. Holier stood beside him.

"It seems that your tumor is malignant, but we caught it so early that we believe if we act quickly, we can remove it without it spreading." Dr. Holier informed. Aria let out a small sniffle as her eyes filled with tears, but she was trying to hold it together.

"Of course, let's go ahead with whatever needs to be done." Ezra answered.

"That would mean that you would have to have surgery in a few days. Then, depending how that goes, maybe a round or two of chemo, but we could be successful in the first surgery." Ezra nodded.

"Book the surgery." Ezra said with no emotion. They scheduled for Saturday, two days after thanksgiving. He was prescribed some pain killers for his head until then and they were free to leave. They sat in the car for a few minutes before either of them spoke.

'Wow, brain caner, that's…"

"A big deal." Aria finished for him. Ezra nodded. Aria couldn't help but cry.

"Why aren't you more upset?"

"Because I know that even if everything doesn't go well, that I have gotten to spend my life with a wonderful woman who has made me the happiest man alive." Ezra answered, starting the car.

"How come I'm upset and you aren't even emotional?"

"Aria, I get it, you're scared, I'm scared, but there is still a chance that everything is going to be okay." They got home and Aria had to make herself busy while Ezra got his prescription filled. They had decided that they would tell everyone tomorrow at dinner. Aria started peeling potatoes and got the turkey out of the freezer to thaw. She had almost everything she needed ready for tomorrow, she would just have to make the actual side dishes. Ezra came home and they decided to make it an early night so they could be well rested for tomorrow.

Aria woke up around 9 to find herself alone in their bed. She got up and started looking for Ezra, noticing that the living room was straightened up on her way through the house. She found him in the kitchen, mopping.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm helping you clean for today. Do you want coffee?"

"Ezra, the doctor said you needed to rest."

"He told me to take it easy, not be an invalid." Ezra laughed at Aria's craziness. She took the cup of coffee he offered her while inspecting all the other things he had done for her. All the cleaning was done and Aria was thankful. Aria showered and began cooking around eleven while Ezra watched tv in the connecting living room. He was helping out where he could, but he was afraid he would just be in her way. Her parents were arriving at four and it was now 3:30.

"You go change, I'll watch over everything in here." Ezra ordered. Aria gave him a thankful look because she had yet to have a spare minute to get dressed. Ezra was dressed in khakis and a sweater and Aria came back into the kitchen in a sweater with leggings on and boots. They couple looked very fall. Hanna said her and Caleb would definitely be there for dinner since her family's celebration was at lunch. Spencer said her and Toby would be over around 5, for dessert. The game was already on tv and Ezra was sitting in front of it on the couch. He heard Aria struggling in the kitchen again and he went to help her.

"Are you okay?"

"I was just about to ask you the same thing, did you take your medicine today?"

"Yes, I did, but don't let that ruin your day, okay? It's our first thanksgiving as husband and wife, let's enjoy it, okay?" Ezra wrapped his arms around his wife's waist from behind and kissed her neck.

"Yeah, are you sure you want to tell them?" Aria double-checked, getting nervous for some reason.

"Of course, they're family now, and I don't want to lie to them. But I don't want to worry them, I'll have this surgery and be fine." Ezra said trying to convince himself just as much as he was her. He hopped up on the counter only to shortly be scolded by Aria.

"Ezra, no one wants your butt near their food! Get down."

"Well I never heard you complain about my butt before."

"Okay, let me rephrase that: No one but me wants your butt near their food." Ezra smiled and then stopped when he heard the doorbell ring.

"Now or never I guess." Ezra said before he went to open the door. It was Mike and her parents.

"Hi Mom, hi Dad." Aria greeted both of her parents with kisses on the cheek. They had brought a pumpkin pie for dessert.

"I gotta say Aria, I'm pretty fond of this whole thing where you host thanksgiving instead of us. It is pretty nice." Ella laughed seeing the mess in her kitchen.

"Yeah, well I offered before I knew how much of a mess I would make." Aria was pulling the baked corn out of the oven when the doorbell rang again. This time it was Hanna and Caleb.

"It's so good to see you!" Hanna exclaimed as she saw Aria. They hugged for awhile while Caleb greeted everyone else.

"We brought green bean casserole…but I'm not promising anything." Hanna looked at her lack of cooking skills. Aria smiled and took it to the kitchen to keep warm. Soon, they were all seated around the dining room table, getting ready to eat.

"So, what's everyone thankful for this year?" Byron sparked the conversation while the food was being dished out.

"I'll go first, I'm thankful that Aria invited us because I'm starving!" Hanna joked.

"But, for real, I'm thankful that I got to come home for the holiday and see my family and my friends. And for a break from all the school work."

"I'm thankful that I found a job in New York so I can be with Hanna while she goes to school and I'm thankful that we are somehow managing to pay the rent." Caleb added that joke at the end which made everyone laugh.

"I'm thankful for being here with my family and that Mom made the pie because that may be the only thing I eat if Aria cooked the rest." Mike laughed.

"Hey, watch it." Aria warned.

"How about you Mom?"

"Well I'm thankful for my two beautiful children and husband, and for our new addition to the family, Ezra. And that Hanna and Caleb can join us tonight so it's not family feud."

"I'm thankful that my wife is so forgiving and generous. And I'm thankful that my daughter has grown up into a beautiful woman who married a smart, kind man. I'm thankful that my son is going to graduate this year and go on to do whatever makes him happy."

"I'm thankful for my husband, who know matter what, always puts me first, even if he's the one who needs the attention. And I'm thankful that we can be together for this thanksgiving and many more after this one." Aria said, trying not to get emotional.

"I am so thankful for my life right now. I have a beautiful wife, who is nothing short of amazing. And I'm thankful that we are both here, healthy, and with our family." Aria smirked at the healthy part because she knew he said it because she would understand what he was talking about.

"Let's eat!" Hanna chimed in. Aria served everyone their sides while Ezra carved the turkey. They ate with good conversation circulating about school and work and such. Spencer and Toby arrived a little earlier than they expected, but were too full to eat the meal. After everyone was finished, Aria and Ezra took the plates to the kitchen, knowing everyone would need a break before dessert.

"Aria, Ezra, you two have to break the wishbone!" Spencer added as she helped clean up. Everyone sat around the table and watched Aria and Ezra struggle to break the bone. Finally, the bone cracked and Aria was able to pull the rest of it. Everyone cheered.

"So, Ar, what did you wish for?" Ella asked. Aria took a deep breath before looking at Ezra.

"I wished that Ezra would be healthy again." Aria said, not able to get the words out without crying. Everyone had puzzled looks on their faces.

"I didn't know that this was how we were going to break it to you guys," Ezra chuckled a little before adding, but, I hadn't been feeling well for awhile and yesterday Aria and I went to the doctor and he confirmed that I have a malignant brain tumor. I'm having surgery on Saturday though, they think they can remove it all without having it spread anywhere else." Ezra let the words just come out before he looked up at the group of eight. Aria grabbed his hand for support. No one spoke for the longest time.

"Excuse me." Aria went into the kitchen before anyone, especially Ezra, could see her crying. It seemed that she was always crying lately. She heard footsteps behind her, she expected them to belong to her husband, but instead they belonged to her father. She leant into him and cried for what felt like hours.

"I am finally getting to be with him on a permanent basis, I can't lose him now Daddy." Aria cried as Byron attempted to soothe her hiccups.

"Honey, he is one of the strongest men I know. He will pull through this, okay. He will be okay, I can promise you that." Byron rubbed her back while she cried. He was partially thankful that she still needed him to comfort her, but he knew that it wasn't his job anymore. He heard footsteps behind him and looked up to see Ezra. He gave him a small smile and backed away from Aria, letting Ezra fill his spot. He went back into the dining room where everyone was still sitting silently, looking at him for details.

"She'll be okay, she's just scared for him. I would be the same way, actually it's a miracle they're both holding it together right now, especially him. He's the one having brain surgery in two days, but he's out there comforting her. He's so strong." Byron spoke to the group minus Aria and Ezra. They came back about ten minutes later with the pumpkin pie and plates.

"So who wants dessert?" Aria asked, which made everyone breath a sigh of relief. She would be okay, and so would Ezra.


	26. Chapter 26

When All Else Fails

Today was the day. Today was the day that her husband would have his skull opened and his brain sliced with a scalpel. The part that Aria hated the most was that she couldn't do anything to relieve his pain or worries, let alone her own. Ezra had to be at the hospital at eight since they were operating at eleven. He had to be prepped for his surgery and examined quickly prior to the removal of his tumor. The alarm went off at six and Ezra hopped in the shower while Aria made breakfast. She made him an omelet with spinach, chopped peppers, and cheese in it; his favorite. He came out of their room in sweatpants and a t-shirt. He didn't feel the need to look nice for the doctors, especially since he would be in a gown soon anyway. His eyes met Aria's and she looked at him with sympathy. He wasn't worried about himself, he would be fine and if he wasn't, he wouldn't feel any pain and probably go quick if something went wrong during the surgery. He was worried about her. If something did happen to him, she would be alone, and he didn't want that. Going back to being eighteen after having an eating disorder, a miscarriage, being married, and then losing a husband would kill her. He honestly didn't think that she would be able to go back to a regular life.

"You look beautiful." Ezra stated simply.

"What are you talking about? I'm in leggings and a sweatshirt? I haven't even showered." Aria laughed at his comment, trying to keep the emotion positive.

"Aria, you could wear the ugliest outfit in the world and still be the most beautiful girl ever. And your outfit looks great. But I meant you, your face, your eyes, your cute nose. I love you."

"Ezra, please don't do this, it feels too much like you're saying goodbye and I can't do that." Aria said fighting back tears for what seemed like the millionth time in the past few days. The newlyweds had the best time yesterday Black Friday shopping. Aria had actually gotten most of her Christmas shopping done, along with Ezra, except for their gifts for each other. Aria was getting him a t-shirt quilt of all of his old t-shirts he had struggled to put into storage when they moved. There just was no room for them, but Aria had gotten them out and sent them away to have them made into a blanket. It had arrived back already, but it was hidden in the closet. Ezra was getting Aria a multitude of things. Secretly, he had been taking pictures of every important moment of their life, not in a creepy way, but in a way that would be great to look back on in a few years. He was putting them together for a photo album. He also got them tickets to go see Death of a Salesman, one of her favorite plays, in New York for the revival that would only last a few weeks on broadway. The time they spent together made them forget about the looming day ahead of them and just enjoy one another's company without the sadness and pitiful eyes.

"I'm not saying goodbye Aria, I'm saying I love you. And when I open my eyes again in a few hours, all I want to see are your beautiful eyes." Ezra was keeping himself pretty well composed while Aria was losing it. Tears were streaming down her face. They were hot against her cold skin. She bit the side of her lip and looked away, she didn't want to show Ezra that she was scared. He lifted his hand a brushed it along her cheek as he pressed his thumb against her tears, wiping them away.

"I love you more than anything in this world, and no one or anything can take that from me. Not these doctors, not this tumor, nothing. It's me and you against the world, as always." Aria looked into his eyes and paused, she was speechless. What was she supposed to say to her husband with brain cancer who could die in a matter of hours?

"I love you too." Aria said quietly, not breaking eye contact. She stared into his deep eyes, meaningfully for a few seconds. She crashed her lips into his, not caring what else was happening because doing that felt right. It wasn't a fast kiss, but it was a hard kiss. It was a passionate kiss that lasted until neither one of them could feel their lips anymore. They weren't making out; it was just one long, emotionally charged kiss. She was vulnerable and needed him. After they broke their kiss, Ezra stared into her hazel eyes, not thinking, just looking. Still without thinking, he tugged on her hand and pulled her to their bedroom.

Aria took a breath, but she didn't close her eyes. She kept the eye contact with Ezra when he walked them over to their bed.

"I have never loved you as much as I do right now." Aria whispered as she gently laid herself on top of her husband. He was fragile and she was afraid to hurt him.

"Good." Was all Ezra said before sucking her for another kiss. It took Aria awhile to realize that she was crying while they were in bed. She wasn't sad exactly, more like she was just so scared and in love, perhaps. Ezra took the lead and removed the sweatshirt she had on. He meant it when he said he could never even imagine anyone as beautiful as her. She was his, and would be forever. He flipped them over so he was on top. He placed gentle kisses on her collarbone, which popped out against her chest. He hadn't noticed those bones sticking out that much since he had found out about her disorder. This made him sad, even if it had nothing to do with her condition, it brought up his emotions from that time. He knew exactly how Aria felt right now because he had been there, he wanted nothing more than for Aria to be alright when he found out she was sick. And now it was his turn to cause her that pain. His mind was shut off when he moved up and saw Aria's eyes again. They were beautiful, he didn't know any other way to describe them. He removed his short and traced the outlines of his deteriorating chest. He hadn't been able to run or work out for a few weeks and he never had much of an appetite, but she didn't care. He was amazing the way he was, and he always would be.

Her hands moving over his bare chest were like icicles, giving him the chills the entire times, even though her hands were warm. The slow motions of her hands on his back soothed him in a way that he had never been before. His hands caressed her small stomach and collided with her soft skin. Her pale skin was so delicate, he could touch it, or just look at it forever. Eventually her hands moved down to the drawstring on his sweatpants. She gingerly untied the knot he had placed there only minutes earlier and helped slide tem down his legs. He was so handsome and Aria was still perplexed at the thought that he was all hers. He was amazing, even in the wake of an impending surgery, Ezra still managed to make her feel safe. Ezra's hands slid to the waistband of her leggings. He looked into her eyes one last time before he went for it. The two continued to make love until seven, when they knew they had to finish getting ready for the hospital.

"Can we just skip the appointment and lay here forever." Ezra held her petite frame against his warm body in bed while they took a second to catch their breath.

"I wish we could. I wish that none of this had ever happened. I wish that it was me Ezra."

"Aria, look at me, I'm strong. I would never wish this on you, let alone anyone else. Don't be upset because this isn't the hard part. The hard part is going to be afterwards when you're going to have to take care of me 24/7."

"I would much rather take care of you 24/7 than have you go through this at all."

"Aria, I need you to promise me something." Ezra's voice became somber.

"Anything."

"If something does happen to me, I want you to be able to move on, and have a life, and a family. Just promise me that you won't shut the world out and you'll take care of yourself. Because trust me, as much as I would love for you to join me up there, that isn't God's plan for you."

"Ezra, I can't promise you that because I can't even think about losing you, I can't comprehend it, but I would and always will do anything you ask. So I may not succeed, but I will try. For you, not for me. I don't want to have to move on if I lose you." Ezra kissed her forehead.

"No more crying today baby. I need to see your pretty clear eyes when I wake up." The couple finally got out of bed and redressed themselves. Soon enough, they were ready to leave and Ezra led the way. Aria turned around and took a last look at their home as they left together as husband and wife.

Aria drove them to the hospital in silence, but they held hands over the middle console the entire time. Once they arrived, they checked in and were shown to a room. Ezra put his gown on and they hooked him up to an IV. They gave him a few antibiotics so he could relax and relieve any pain he was having prior to the surgery. This was making him loopy, that's why Ezra didn't want anyone at the hospital except Aria right now. He was laughing at everything, which eased Aria in a strange way. His constant laughs and senseless chatter made Aria laugh and almost forget that in a matter of hours his brain would be sliced open. They were joking when the doctors came in to inform him of what would be occurring in during the surgery, but he wasn't listening. Aria, however, was listening intently. She had been walked through the procedure many times before, but knowing the ins and outs comforted her a miniscule amount. Half of Ezra's hair had to be shaved, the doctor had even let Aria do it, which she loved and hated. They decided that just shaving his whole head would be the best. She loved that they were helping her feel as if she was apart of this, but she hated that his hair was going to be gone. She knew it would grow back relatively fast, but his hair seemed to be apart of him, or at least she thought.

They were giving a few minutes to say goodbye before Ezra would be taken down to the OR. Aria wasn't sure what to say because Ezra was high as a kite and he wouldn't pay attention for more than a minute. Since they had spent the morning together, Aria didn't feel too bad about his state of being and that he wouldn't remember their goodbye now.

"Hey, I love you, okay? You're going to be okay, I promise." She kissed him and he kissed her back.

"I can't believe you're my wife! You're smoking hot!" Ezra said laughing to himself. Aria giggled and kissed his forehead.

"Can you just tell me that you love me so they can get you into surgery already?" Aria laughed while putting her hand on his shoulder.

"I do love you Aria Fitz. So much." He kissed her hand playfully and she looked into his eyes as the nurse wheeled him out of the room. She went as far as she could with him until she wasn't allowed to go any farther. She kissed him and the nurse promised they would be out with updates at some point. The surgery was going to be fairly long, about six hours, but Aria refused to leave the hospital. Her parents came and sat with her for awhile, Spencer came with Toby, and then Hanna with Caleb. Mike even came to sit with her for awhile because they didn't want her to have to wait by herself, especially if it was bad news. About two hours into it, a nurse came out with an update.

"Hi Mrs. Fitz?" A small nurse approached her when Mike was with her.

"Yes." Aria responded, just wanting to hear news.

"Your husband is doing great so far in surgery. They have successfully cracked the skull and are now going to begin removing the tumor." She informed the brother and sister.

"Thank you so much!" Aria was happy because she was beginning to get a little worried when she hadn't heard anything, but she was trying to stay positive. No news had been good news. Aria let Mike persuade her to go to the cafeteria, even though she didn't feel great.

"You alright Ar? You look really pale."

"Yeah, I'm fine, just nerves. If your wife was in surgery to have a tumor removed for six hours, you would be a little pale too." Aria got a salad with French dressing while Mike got a turkey sandwich. Mike nodded at her valid point.

"Let's talk about something else? How's senior year? God, I cannot believe you're a senior already!"

"Ar, you were a senior last year, so that's normally how it goes, I move up one grade each year." Mike teased her.

"Would you have believed this is where we would be your senior year? We're waiting for my husband to get out of brain surgery? How crazy is this?"

"Not for a second. If someone told me a year and a half ago that my sister would be married to her former English teacher and he has brain cancer, no I wouldn't have believed it." Mike ate his sandwich as he thought back on how much had changed in the past year.

"Ar, do you ever wonder what life would be like if you hadn't met Ezra before school started?"

"All the time. I would probably be happy in New York, but I wouldn't have known love at all. I would be happy because I wouldn't know what I had missed out on. I'm really happy now Mike, I'm happier than I ever could have imagined. And I truly hope you find someone who makes you this happy too someday."

"Oh, Ar, don't get all sappy on me!"

"I'm serious Mike! Like high school is awful, I'm so much happier now that I graduated and you will be too, but don't wish the time away. Because even though high school sucks, you'll regret not having fun. I kinda regret not going out and having fun. I mean, it kept me out of trouble, but now I can't go have like a good time just loving life anymore. I have responsibilities and a husband to look after. Just cherish the time you've got left, okay buddy?" Aria kind of went on a tangent and Mike felt for her, he really did, but it was her decision to stay holed up with Ezra. Mike didn't mean it in a rude way, but that's how Aria wanted to spend her time, so she shouldn't regret it now.

"Not hungry?"

"Not really, I don't feel well, I just need to relax I think. I feel so high strung right now with Ezra in surgery, his brains possibly all over the table right now." Aria barely touched her salad and Mike was still worried about her, even though she had seemingly recovered form her condition.

"Yeah, well what can I do?"

"Just wait with me I think. There's not much any of us can do." Mike sat with her until Hanna and Caleb arrived with magazines in hand.

"We knew that you wouldn't leave, so we brought something to entertain you while we wait." Aria grinned thankfully as they sat down together in the otherwise empty waiting room. Aria flipped through People magazine, not really paying much attention to its contents, but thinking and looking at the pictures.

"We figured you wouldn't be able to think of much else, so we brought you this too." Winesburg, Ohio, her favorite. Her copy from Ezra was in a shadow box hanging in the living room.

"Thanks guys, this is great actually." Aria put down the magazine and Hanna snatched it before it hit the table. Aria was in chapter two when the nurse came back out with an update.

"We're at the 2/3 mark for the surgery, it shouldn't be too much longer, they're just closing up now, and you should be able to see him within the next two hours. The surgery went great." The nurse assured Aria, who had a big smile on her face. Aria thanked her and went back to her seat between Hanna and Caleb.

"He'll be out of surgery soon, they're just closing up! He's okay!" Aria hugged them both, excitedly. They waited the next two hours with Aria until a nurse came out to get Aria to see Ezra. Hanna and Caleb told her how happy they were that Ezra was okay and to call them later. Aria bounded back to the room, knowing that he would still be unconscious for a while. She was just happy that he made it out of surgery and he was okay. His head was wrapped in a large bandage, but she could see the small sprouts of his newly-shaved hair. She smiled as she touched it, gently. It felt funny, almost like a tickling feeling. Aria was all smiles and couldn't contain herself. Ezra's doctor finally came in, but kept the lights dim. He didn't want to risk Ezra being in pain when he woke up by the bright lights. His eyes were going to be very sensitive anyway, so they were doing all they could to keep him in the least amount of pain as possible.

"Hi, Aria, I just wanted to check in with you, and let you know about the surgery. The surgery went as well as expected, we won't know all of the details until Ezra wakes up, which should be around 9 tonight, but it could be later than that, there really is no way to tell, but about 4 hours after the surgery is normal. But we successfully removed the tumor, so we will just have to wait to see if the cancer has spread already. He should be okay when he wakes up, maybe a little groggy, but his memory should be intact. So it's very touch and go right now, but when he wakes up, we'll talk more about what comes next. Okay?"

"That sounds great, thank you so much!" Aria shook the doctor's hand and went back to her husband. She held his hand until she eventually fell asleep, even though she tried to keep her eyes open for as long as possible. She was startled awake a few hours later when her head hit the wall behind her. She checked her phone, it was around eleven and she had a bunch of messages from her friends and family, wondering what the verdict was. She replied to all of the messages and knew that she should probably sleep more if she wanted to be awake when Ezra woke, most likely the next morning. She grabbed one of the extra blankets from the closet and snuggled up in the chair next to Ezra's bed.

The next morning, Aria was woken by nurses coming in and out of Ezra's room. She was surprised he wasn't awake yet, but she checked her phone again and saw she had more messages. Her parents wanted to come in and see Ezra, but Aria texted that they should wait until he's awake. Aria went to get herself a cup of coffee. She would need about five cups on a morning like this. Her stomach was still not settled, she was still nervous and probably would be until he woke up. It had been 12 hours after the doctor's predicted time, should it take this long? Aria got her coffee and on her way back to Ezra's room, she ran into his doctor.

"Is it normal for him to still be asleep?" Aria blurted out, rather than beating around the bush.

"Ahh, Mrs. Fitz, nice to see you this morning. But to answer your question, honestly, no. It is not normal, but that is no reason to lose any sort of hope. People have awoken after being unconscious for nine days after surgery like this. I'm sure he will wake up soon. I'll be in to check up on him in a few hours during my rounds. We'll talk more then." The doctor reassured Aria. She walked back to his room and felt a little discouraged. This wasn't normal. Her initial feeling was fear. She was worried he would never wake up, he would leave her husbandless, with a baby—that was the first time she thought about that. She could be pregnant right now and not even know it. She wished she was pregnant, but knew that chances were slim to none, even though they had been having sex quiet often lately, including yesterday morning. She pushed that thought to the back of her head; she needed to focus on Ezra right now. She held his hand and felt herself checking the clock every twelve minutes it seemed. Every minute that passed was another minute that Ezra was not awake. She was worried about him, about them. Aria sighed and turned the tv on, hoping for the time to pass faster. She decided on big bang theory, one of their favorites. She watched the episode and tried to distract herself. She heard the noise on the heart monitor change. Not go insane or slow down, just a change. She looked over and saw those blue eyes she had been waiting to see.

"You're awake!" She rushed over to her husband.

"You're beautiful."


End file.
